


A Frost Giant Abroad

by TorMist



Series: My Prince, My King [3]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: BDSM, Belts, Bottom Loki (Marvel), Bottoming from the Top, Face Slapping, Fingerfucking, Fluff and Smut, Intersex Loki (Marvel), Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Loki and Thor Are Not Related, M/M, Past Rape/Non-con, Porn with Feelings, Restraints, Rough Sex, Slave Loki (Marvel), Smut, Thor AU, Thorki - Freeform, Top Thor (Marvel), Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Virginity, Whipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:35:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22559539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TorMist/pseuds/TorMist
Summary: Post the events of 'I Serve', Loki has left behind his ties on Jotunheim and his love on Asgard to go a-wandering. His past catches up with him, and Thor finds he has to dig Loki out of the mess he has made for himself. Is Loki grateful? Of course. Finding himself as Thor's slave once more is exactly how he envisioned his newly found freedom, and his reunion with Thor.
Relationships: Loki/Thor (Marvel)
Series: My Prince, My King [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1547479
Comments: 40
Kudos: 128





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Darkellaine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkellaine/gifts), [Im_not_rare_Im_rarr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_not_rare_Im_rarr/gifts).



> For Darkellaine in gratitude for the insights and comments on the main story, and for Im_not_rare_Im_rarr for suggesting I write a sequel in the first place.

One could never quite _not_ be a king when one was king, but Thor was relishing the relative anonymity of an unofficial visit to Vanaheim. Local officials had to be informed of it as a matter of diplomacy of course, but beyond some glad-handling, nothing was expected of the King of Asgard. He was free to be Thor Odinson for some time. Just a short time, but it would do.

Naturally, he would still enjoy the largely unchanged perks of his status.

The King of Asgard, and perhaps more importantly, the son of Frigga Freyrsdottir, was being made welcome in the Court of Vanaheim today, briefly, and then Thor and his companions would be free to indulge in the rural splendor of the realm as well as its beautiful city. He was possibly past the time in his life where he would take simple, uproarious joy in wine, women, bar brawls and song and think it time best spent, but he certainly hadn't yet reached a time in his life when he would ignore the opportunity for such things.

It would take his mind off Loki, perhaps.

In the weeks since Loki had left Asgard for Jotunheim again, Thor had not heard from him. Had heard a little from Jotunheim, the tentative beginnings of talks, perhaps even the start of a mutual understanding about the future of their realms together. Loki had not featured in the outreach in any obvious way, nor did Thor get any sense of Loki's hands on the strings of the Jotunn representatives. Had he left Jotunheim too? Thor worried about the alternatives, but did not dwell on them too much.

Loki was nothing if not a survivor.

The formalities at the Court itself done, Thor and his four companions had joined the royal family for dinner, talking on inoffensive topics and dutifully asking the opportunity to offer mutual hospitality on Asgard. Thor could feel the Queen of the Vanir's curiousity about how the most recent war against Jotunheim had ended, but she was too polite to ask directly the details from the Asgardians. Questions and rumours swirled around the relationship between the two realms also; Thor did not feel like addressing any of it, but was vaguely worried that the uncertainty might affect Asgard adversely in the long run. He would have to ask his father's advice. And Loki's, whenever he decided to make an appearance.

He sensed the awkwardness in a pause in conversation as the Queen and her husband exchanged a look. She turned to Thor and said, "My lord, we are grateful you have recently returned to Asgard safely from Jotunheim after an, er, successful campaign there." She waited for Thor to acknowledge her statement and he did so with a terse nod. The safe return of his army, his companions and himself and a halt being called to what was left of the Jotunn war machine could be considered a victory, he supposed. With Loki in the mix, the outcome was never going to have been straightforward, but Asgard had not lost, exactly.

The Queen waited for more, but on realising that Thor did not intend to elucidate, she continued somewhat hesitantly. "We had a visitor lately on Vanaheim, from Jotunheim we believe, although we cannot be sure." Thor tried to hide a smile. That sounded like Loki. He responded, "Frost Giants are rarely seen except in their own realm, but they are distinctive. What makes you think your visitor was or was not Jotunn?"

The Queen nodded at one of her bodyguards who lounged by the doors of the dining hall and at the Queen's signal flung them wide. Two palace guards marched in, dragging a restrained figure between them. A tall, slender, blue-skinned figure whose furious eyes and sharp cheekbones were immediately recognisable to Thor despite their unfamiliar colouring, and despite the rest of his face being concealed behind a metal gag. Below that sat a metal collar carved with runes.

At another gesture from the Queen, one of the guards put Loki on his knees, then stepped forward and saluted. "A shapechanger, your majesty. We believe he used his abilities to commit crimes here some years ago, although he looked Aesir then. He was recognised and arrested some days ago after arriving in the city. We found him to be in possession of this."

Thor took the proffered item to examine it, and realised it was a silver replica of Mjolnir, beautifully worked, held in a band of thin leather straps in the Asgardian style.

Thor looked at Loki and smiled. Loki returned a look that threatened a painful death. Thor turned back to the Queen. "Your majesty," he asked gravely. "How do the Vanir punish theft?"


	2. Chapter 2

Thor had no difficulty in persuading the Vanir to hand custody of Loki to the visiting Asgardians; after all, the Jotunn had long been considered the Asgardians' problem. The unlock for the gag was provided but the Queen advised that the prisoner be kept gagged except when being fed or interrogated, so much was his silver tongue feared, it would seem.

The cuffs which kept Loki's wrists behind his back were magically sealed and the collar served to stymie his seidr. Those restraints, apparently, were non-negotiable until the Jotunn was leaving Vanaheim.

Thor ran his eyes over Loki to check his condition as they walked back to the rooms they had been gifted in the palace for their stay in the city. Loki had thrown a glare at the guards who had escorted him to the Queen as they left the room but there seemed to be no real malice in it, just run-of-the-mill Loki ire at those who would dare impede him.

He looked a little unwashed, and a few minor bruises marred his face and neck, but nothing significant that Thor could see. Still. He was displeased that another had marked Loki's skin. He would have to have words with his sorcerer about this.

Sif was doing nothing to hide her amusement as they returned to their rooms, speculating none too quietly on the nature of Loki's crimes. When she had got to the subject of interactions with animals, Loki was obviously considering kicking her, and then relented as she caught his eye and he looked as if he would laugh too had he not been gagged. He flashed her a look that promised retribution anyway.

Back in Thor's chambers, Thor released the gag and Loki breathed a sigh of relief. The skin around his mouth was darkened by the pressure and his lips looked dry and sore. "Is it my fate, Thunderer," he finally croaked, "to be brought into your company unwillingly and bound? Because if this happens a third time, it is a definite pattern."

"Ungrateful, Loki?" Thor found himself grinning at Loki's peevishness. "I won't offer to return you to Vanir custody as I suspect they really do not want you, but I am happy to leave you sitting in a corner bound _and gagged_ if you object terribly to the circumstances of our reunion, or simply my company. Your predicament is interfering with my leisure time."

Loki licked his sore-looking lips, and replied drily, "If you are insisting on forcing your hospitality on me, you could at least offer me a warm bath and a hot meal, Thunderer." Thor cupped his face to examine his bruises more carefully. "Who did this, Loki?" he murmured. Loki frowned. "I did, Thunderer. I brought this on myself. Don't go off half-cocked, now."

Thor would happily have gone off half-cocked if he had confidence in finding exactly which of the guards had been rough with Loki. He gently thumbed a large but shallow bruise on Loki's jawline. Truthfully he was as fascinated by Loki's Jotunn skin as he was annoyed by the bruising. "Nevertheless, sorcerer. You are mine to mark, and mine alone. This is not yours to forgive."

Thor avoided obvious shows of affection in public beyond a kiss or an embrace as a matter of course. It was unseemly for a king to dally like an infatuated youth and he also thought his companions, and Loki too, might not be comfortable with an intimate display, but he paid no mind to these concerns for now. Instead of scoffing though, Loki allowed his defensive posture to slacken and soften, and leaned into Thor's hand, closing his eyes for a moment.

Of course, the moment only last a moment, as Loki's distaste for being at Thor's mercy in such circumstances reasserted itself. "I would not wish to be a distraction from your pursuit of leisure, my prince. I am no responsibility of yours no matter what the Vanir say. Let me free and you are free to go your own way also."

Thor sighed. This signified trouble, if Loki was not willing to play along. He considered cutting his visit short and returning to Asgard immediately so he could free Loki of the cuffs and collar, but that would require Loki to co-operate with the facade of being in Thor's custody. They could spend some time together then, alone, while Sif and the Warriors Three continued their visit in Vanaheim.

"I cannot afford to displease the Vanir, Loki, you know that. You _are_ my responsibility now. Come, let us two return to Asgard so you can be freed from your bonds. You will be free to do as you will as soon as it is within my power to grant you so, I promise it."

Loki balked. "You cannot be in earnest, Thunderer. I will not return to Asgard in chains with you holding my leash! Especially like this. Do not suggest it again."

"What else am I to do, Loki? I cannot offend our hosts, but I will not hurt your pride if I can avoid it. I have no good choices here. Can you not bend, just a little, in this?"

Loki glanced at the open door, and before Thor could react, he made a dash for it. Thor roared at Sif to stop him but she just held her hands up and backed away as Loki flew past her at speed, flashing her a conspiratorial grin as he did so, which she returned. Thor shot her a dirty look as he made after Loki, to which Sif murmured, "Your responsibility, Thor! Don't involve _me_ in your games," as he passed her.

Loki was running full tilt down the corridors of the palace, in who knows what direction. Thor was sure Loki knew as little as himself about the layout of the place. He was worried now; if Loki tripped as he was likely to do with his hands pinned behind his back, he would also be unable to break his fall and could injure himself badly.

Loki was faster than Thor was on foot, Thor knew, but the twists and turns of the corridor were to Thor's advantage as he was able to right himself more quickly than Loki could with his balance off.

Residents and visitors of the palace alike turned and stared in surprise at the spectacle of ...was that a Jotunn?... being chased across the palace by the unmistakeable figure of the king of Asgard. Thor caught Loki up finally in a courtyard, open to the blue skies and decorated with scattered benches and water features throughout. The irregular layout slowed Loki enough that Thor was able to tackle him and throw them both sideways, so Loki could be cushioned by Thor's falling body.

Both splayed on the ground and panting, Loki made to spit in Thor's face, and Thor lost his temper.

"Oh, enough!" he roared as he stood and pulled Loki to his feet, trying not to twist his elbow or shoulder as he did so. Loki laughed, but it turned quickly to a yelp as Thor made for a bench and sat down, pulling Loki with him and throwing Loki over his lap, face down.

"If you insist on acting like a child, I will treat you as a child!" roared Thor, and brought his hand down on Loki's arse three times with as much force as he could muster. Loki cried out in outrage and pain, and struggled to throw himself off Thor's lap. Thor held him easily; Loki would have to dislocate an elbow or shoulder to properly move away and Thor did not think it had quite come to that yet.

Loki yelled, "How dare you!" and, still sprawled across Thor's lap, turned to meet Thor's eye, the offended expression on his face forcing Thor to swallow a laugh.

Loki moved to bite, provoking another roar from Thor. "Enough, I said!" Thor's exasperation got the upper hand over his amusement.

"BEHAVE. Or. I. Will. Force. You. To. BEHAVE." Thor punctuated each word with a resounding smack on Loki's rear, which Loki refused to acknowledge beyond a grunt. He went limp though.

Thor pulled Loki off his lap and left him kneeling and glowering up at Thor. They had attracted a crowd now. Thor swept a glare across the gathered curious, who simultaneously decided that, all evidence to the contrary, there was perhaps more entertainment to be had elsewhere.

Without another word, he picked Loki up bodily and flung him over a shoulder, holding him steady with his arm across the back of Loki's knees. He heard an "oof" from the sorcerer and smacked Loki's arse again to warn him not to be difficult.

Thor could feel a tell-tale bulge from where Loki's crotch pressed against his shoulder, and he grinned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki gets a bath, with benefits.  
> Thor gets a surprise, and not the kind you might expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to im_not_rare_im_rarr for beta reading! Any errors are mine.

The Three, who were still seated in Thor’s rooms, barely glanced up as Thor stormed through the door with Loki over his shoulder. Sif was nowhere to be seen. 

He threw Loki none too gently on the sofa and was surprised to see him immediately slide off the sofa and drop to his knees, hunched over facing the floor and looking uncomfortable as the cuffs kept his hands pinned behind his back. _What is he playing at now? The grovelling slave? I will truly redden his arse if he tries my patience any more_. 

Sif appeared at the bedroom door and said, “Ah good, you're back. I was wondering how far a merry chase you would be led on. Far enough by the looks of you." She smiled down at Loki. "By the looks of _you_ , you might appreciate a bath before you eat, hmmm? It should be ready now, sorcerer."

Loki looked up, a slightly embarrassed flush on his face as he muttered thanks to the floor, presumably meant for Sif. What was he...? Ah. Thor realised that Loki's apparent abasement was his attempt to hide a raging hard-on. 

“Out, all of you, please,” said Thor. Sif winked at Thor as she left. 

Thor walked over to Loki, who was apparently already bored with playing the obedient prisoner as he had risen to sit back on his heels, grinning mischievously up at Thor. Thor sighed. Loki's compliance had lasted, five, perhaps seven minutes?

“Will you bathe me, Thunderer? Be as gentle with me as you would a new babe, now.” Loki was still grinning, but there was a tilt to his head and a coquettish look to his expression that he knew Thor would find difficult to resist.

Thor hauled him up unceremoniously and wordlessly pulled him into the bathing room where true to Sif’s word, the bath was filled. He examined Loki’s clothing, which appeared to be Vanir prison clothing. 

“You’ll have to be cut out of your tunic if you can’t get those cuffs off, but Volstagg can stitch it back on to you if I am careful,” he muttered, more or less to himself.

Loki almost snarled, “What do you mean, stitch it back on? Norns, Thor, I will not be paraded about in such a manner!” 

Loki glanced over his shoulder and bared his teeth as if he wished he could rip the cuffs off with those alone, and would, given the opportunity. He looked slightly feral; his Jotunn teeth subtly sharper, his expression that of a trapped animal. Thor knew he had to de-escalate this before Loki talked himself into properly resisting Thor over something so relatively minor.

“Loki, you will not allow me to bring you to Asgard so I can free you. Until you come up with a reasonable alternative, your circumstances will be dictated according to the wishes of our Vanir hosts. Which means that you are, for all intents and purposes, a prisoner, cuffed and collared, and so will dress in prison garb. End of discussion.”

Thor did not care how mutinous Loki looked as long as he stopped complaining, and Loki seemed to sense his mood, settling slightly. He kept quiet as Thor carefully cut the prison tunic away. He undid the ties of Loki’s breeches and Loki allowed him to remove them without argument. Thor took and folded the clothing, and paused as he realised that Loki was naked before him, not for the first time, but for the first time in his Jotunn skin.

It occurred to him then that perhaps Loki had another reason for silence. Thor knew that Loki preferred the shape of an Aes, but he was not certain why that was. Thor had picked up the understanding that Loki had begun to wear Aes form when he was barely more than a child, but knew nothing of the whys or hows. 

He kept his eyes on Loki’s face, and smiled, raising a hand to cup Loki’s neck. “So do you want me to bathe you, or do you wish to soak on your own? I will call you when the food arrives if you wish to be alone.” Loki did not immediately answer, but seemed to search Thor’s face for something. 

After a moment, he dropped his eyes and smiled too, saying, “I think I would enjoy having you attend to me, Thunderer.” He looked almost shy, despite his bratty words and tone. Thor chuckled, never sure if Loki was aiming to seduce with a show of vulnerability or whether he was genuinely shy in these circumstances. Thor steadied Loki as they stepped together into the bath and began to strip himself, aware of Loki’s gaze as he did so. Perhaps he took a little extra time to stretch and turn as he did so. Usually it was Loki that played the peacock, but Thor could display too on occasion.

Loki immersed himself in the waters, and Thor slipped in beside his sorcerer, taking a moment to burnish himself roughly with the clays and muds used by the Vanir. “Are you going to tell me how you ended up in a Vanir jail, Loki? What crimes have you committed here? At the very least you will offer restitution to those you have wronged.” 

Loki frowned. “You assume I am guilty, Thor?”

Thor laughed outright. “You would be offended if I assumed otherwise, trickster, would you not? Tell me your version of events, then. I am to think of you as a reliable narrator, of course.” 

Loki grinned at that, his facade of disappointed innocence melting into impishness. “Fine. Since you asked so nicely. The truth is, I committed no crime, but I did get involved in a rather noisy dispute, which I assumed had been forgotten about. Some years back, I was drinking with some dwarves from Svartalfheim who were also passing through this realm. Fine forgers they were, and I do love a well-crafted blade.” Thor knew this to be true, having seen Loki wield such on the battlefield. Knives from the best forges of Svartalfheim were valued by their weight in gold, and with good cause.

“They were over-prideful in their abilities, I thought, so I taunted them that the beauty and craft of their pieces came from their tools more than from their own hard-won skills. They took offence to this, for some reason.” Thor rolled his eyes. As if it was possible to offend a dwarf more perfectly, save perhaps by insulting his mother. And her ironcraft.

“I bet my own head that they would not be able to create a pair of perfectly balanced knives away from their own forge. If I was proven right, I would keep the knives, for even a poorly forged Svartalf blade is superior to most.” Thor shook his head in amusement, in full knowledge that Loki could have easily found the resources to bargain, trade for or simply steal a pair of blades if they took his fancy. But no, his sorcerer preferred a trophy of his trickery to a more straightforward acquisition. 

Loki continued his tale, though Thor did not trust him enough to accept it as anything approaching truth. He began to run some cleansing clay over Loki’s torso, smoothing it over soft skin. “A day later, when I had sobered up enough to slightly regret the stake, I found myself in a Vanir forge borrowed by the dwarves to prove their skill. They handed me two of the most perfect newly crafted throwing knives that I have had the pleasure to hold.” Loki sighed at the memory. Thor smiled. Loki rarely cared for material things so these knives must have been true objects of beauty. 

“Those crafty dwarves paid too close attention for me to use trickery to give the lie that the balance of the blades was poor. They succeeded in proving me wrong, so I had lost the bet, and they attempted to exact the price of their win from me. However, I pointed out that I wagered my head only, not my neck, and it could not be decided where one ended and the other began.”

Thor barked a laugh, and Loki favoured him with a wry smile.

“When I stood to leave them to it, not being at all blatantly smug in my muddying of their victorious waters, they attempted to hold me down and stitch my mouth shut as a lesson of some kind. They are crude creatures, dwarves. I was not the sorcerer then that I am now, and could not simply skywalk away, but I was a skilled shape-changer even then. The knives and my other valuables went into a pocket dimension I controlled, and my mouth, neck, head and the rest of me escaped in the form of an eagle. It was not so hard to escape Vanheim afterwards.”

Thor could not hide his amusement at the absurdity of the tale. He hoped it was all true. It was too good a story for him to dismiss out of hand. “So how did you find yourself collared, cuffed and gagged, Loki? Clearly you are too clever to have been caught easily.” He gently rolled his palm around Loki’s lean, muscled back, hoping the fine granules of clay were scouring away the days in a grimy cell. 

Loki huffed, feigning slight offence at Thor’s amusement, and muttered, “I suppose you could say I was careless.” 

Thor had expected nothing less. “Foolish of you, sorcerer. What were you careless of?”

“I did not expect to be remembered, but apparently the dwarves were very sore at my deception. I suspect they threatened the Vanir that if it was known I was allowed to walk through their realm unmolested again, they would refuse to sell their wares here and ensure their fellows followed their lead in this. Petty, really. Perhaps to further prove their craftsmanship, they left an ensorcelled item, this damn collar, here specifically to capture me. I did not think such a minor kerfuffle would be remembered, and so made the careless mistake of walking here in my usual Aes form, and I was recognised, apparently. Once the trap was sprung, I attempted to summon my seidr but not only did the collar suppress it, it also suppressed my shape-changing abilities so that my core form was exposed. And so here you have Loki of Utgard in all his Jotunn glory.”

“Glory indeed, sorcerer,” muttered Thor, becoming increasingly involved in his task as Loki wound down his story. “You owe payment for the knives at least.”

Loki seemed incredulous. “I took the knives in recompense for their bad-tempered attempts to take their sore loss out on my hide. I owe them nothing!”

Thor sighed. “I will not argue the toss with you, sorcerer.” He stood and drew Loki out of the water also to allow the clay to harden and further draw impurities from the skin. As they relaxed on the stone ledges of the bath, Thor indicated the lower half of Loki’s body and asked, “Shall I...?”. Loki nodded, watching him intently as he knelt back down into the water, kneeling before Loki. 

“You look different, Loki,” Thor said without thinking. Suddenly aware of a wave of amusement and disdain that was about to burst out of Loki, he hastily amended, “Beyond the obvious, I mean. I am not as obtuse as you like to think me! I did not get so much of a chance to see you like this before, and I confess myself fascinated.”

Loki did not immediately respond, but placed a foot on Thor’s shoulder as Thor knelt back in the water to attend to Loki’s legs and crotch. “Different, how, Thunderer? Enlighten me.”

“You are larger, somewhat. Not enough to be noticeable at first glance. But your height, your shoulders, just slightly larger.” Loki nodded, and responded, “I doubt I’m as strong as you even in this form, my prince, but I am stronger than I would be as an Aes, certainly.”

“More feminine, too, if only a little,” continued Thor. “Your face is more fine-boned, your waist just slightly more defined, your shape perhaps more androgynous.” Loki smiled and closed his eyes as Thor talked and gently smoothed clay over Loki’s thighs and hips now.

“Of course, I knew your Jotunn body would likely be dual-sexed, but I did not think on it beyond the obvious. Is it strange for you?”

Loki’s eyes flew open, and Thor wondered if he had blundered. “Is what strange, Thor?” Thor considered his question and said, “Being with me, a mono-sexed creature. It must be somewhat odd given the norm you grew up with.” 

Loki looked at him searchingly for a moment, and replied, “I learned at an early age that Fate spins her threads in every form possible so that each life that is woven from them has every chance to adapt and prosper. I cling to that idea, to tell the truth.” He smiled. “I have walked in the skin of beings far stranger than the Aes, my love, and bedded them too. I do not find your form strange at all. It’s perfect in its way.”

Thor knelt up and kissed Loki on the lips, the drying clay cracking on their upper bodies. “As are you, my sorcerer, in all the ways you re-cast yourself, I have no doubt of that.” Loki gave a rare, pleased smile, one devoid of the many humours and moods he usually poured into his smiles. Thor noticed that Loki gave such smiles only when Thor spoke compliments about Loki’s true self, the essence of his ever-shifting, ever-changing sorcerer. 

Loki said, “Aren’t you curious, Thor?” He opened his legs a little and lifted them so Thor could have easy access. “I would offer to guide you with my own hand, but, you know, I find myself in a difficult position.” He smiled mischievously at Thor. “Be gentle, now.”

Thor kissed Loki again on the lips. He knelt back between Loki’s spread thighs and placed his hands on Loki’s hips, circling his thumbs on the smooth skin there. He moved to take Loki’s cock gently in hand, it was not much different than its Aes form, aside from the dark colour. Loki’s testicles would be internal, Thor knew, and he moved Loki’s cock carefully aside to give himself a view of the quim that lay beneath. 

It was plump and darkly pretty and inviting. Thor placed a hand on Loki’s thigh and pulled gently so the feminine opening parted a little and gave him a view of its warm, wet folds within. He looked up at Loki who was watching him with an expression that Thor recognised as Loki at his most unguarded, his most vulnerable. Thor had not expected to see such an expression on Loki’s face in this gentle, intimate moment, given how he had usually only seen this side of Loki as they had both laid each other open raw, tender, wounded, loving and bitterly needing each other in the past. 

Nevertheless, there it was, writ plain on his sorcerer’s face, for Thor and Thor alone. This meant something to Loki that Thor did not understand. Had he expected Thor to be troubled by Loki’s nature? “Loki,” he said almost reverently. “May I…?” Loki nodded, and Thor dipped a careful finger inside, just up to the first knuckle. It was cooler than he expected but still pleasantly warm, and Loki reflexively clamped down on his finger briefly. 

Thor glanced at Loki and stroked gentle circles beneath his finger tip and was rewarded with another squeeze, and that look in Loki’s eyes which were truly a window on his usually so-carefully guarded soul. Loki nodded in response to Thor’s unvoiced question, and Thor dipped his finger further in, first to the second knuckle, then slowly pressing the whole length of it inside. Loki gasped, and Thor held his hand still, prepared to withdraw at the slightest suggestion of discomfort from Loki. 

“Your fingers are larger than mine, Thunderer,” said Loki quietly, seeming relaxed. “You can move, if you like.” Thor did so with care, and crooked his finger at a point that he knew many Aes women favoured, making circles again with gentle pressure. Loki gasped once more and squirmed in a satisfactory manner, clamping down on Thor’s finger again, and Thor could feel more moisture gathering around his finger as he continued circling and pressing. 

Thor loved the look on Loki’s face, the absolute trust, the gifting of his pleasure to Thor, his adoration of Thor plain to see. Loki’s focus seemed to be entirely on the sensations that Thor was offering him, on Thor himself. Thor stopped circling and gently withdrew his finger, and he felt Loki sigh and relax. 

Thor then placed two of his fingers at the entrance of Loki’s quim, which was now properly moist. He looked at Loki, who looked back apprehensively, Thor thought, and with anticipation. Loki nodded, and Thor slowly slid both fingers inside Loki, heard and felt a pleased hum from his sorcerer as he flexed his internal muscles around Thor’s fingers slowly, enjoying their attentions. 

Thor pushed as far as he could without becoming insistent, and then pulled out slowly, and pressed in again. Another pleased noise from Loki, so Thor decided to see how pleased could Loki become from just two fingers. He withdrew his fingers almost to their tips and pressed in again, withdrew and pressed in, and soon his fingers reached a rhythm that had Loki’s internal muscles grasping at them and releasing, grasping and releasing as Loki’s breath hitched and gasped in sync. Loki’s cock stirred too and filled in twitches and jerks, but Thor did not think Loki was paying it much mind. 

Loki began to cant his hips, obviously somewhat frustrated by his arms cuffed behind his back which restricted his ability to properly balance and meet the thrust of Thor’s fingers. He braced himself as best he could against the stone bench and wall as Thor worked to send him over the edge. Thor thrust in roughly now, wishing sincerely that it was his cock, which was red and straining between his own legs. He began to talk to Loki, telling him how beautiful he looked, how wanton on Thor’s fingers, how soft and wet and strong he was down there, how Thor was imagining the feel of Loki’s cunt around his cock, how he was going to pound Loki’s cunt with his cock and fill him with Thor’s seed, he was going to….

With a gasping cry of Thor’s name, Loki came on Thor’s fingers, and the sensation of the fluttering, squeezing heat as he did so made Thor’s cock twitch and leak in anticipation. As Loki collapsed back on the bench and leaned on the stone wall of the bath, Thor withdrew his fingers and licked them experimentally, then helped Loki back down so they were once again in the water together, Loki sitting across Thor’s lap with his head against Thor’s chest.

As Loki’s breathing began to normalise, Thor wet a scrub made of some kind of Vanir sea plant and began to brush away the clay from Loki’s body. He cradled Loki in a way that would normally disgust the sorcerer and kissed him on the cheek as he cleaned him all over. Eventually Loki opened his eyes and looked up at Thor who smiled smugly and said, “Those were just my fingers, sorcerer. What sounds will you make for my cock?”

Loki looked up at him, dazed. “Thunderer, I trust you will be as gentle with your cock as you were with your fingers, yes? I fear this will take some adjusting for me.” A thought suddenly occurred to Thor. He hardly dared believe it, and almost decided not to utter it. But he had to know, to make sure there was no misunderstanding here. 

“Loki...am I the first other than yourself to pleasure you like this? Was that the first time you had fingers other than your own inside you?” Loki smiled up at him, utterly unreadable. Thor could not believe what he was about to ask.

“Loki...are you a virgin?” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags updated to reflect updated reference to past rape.
> 
> Thank you Im_not_rare_Im_rarr for beta-reading.

Loki laughed in his face. "Hardly virginal, Thor. I daresay my exploits would out-scandalise yours were either of us in the habit of spending time in polite society."

Thor, who was forced to spend a lot of time in polite society as a matter of course, replied, "That doesn't answer my question, Loki." He looked down at the sorcerer, still sprawled in his lap, and grabbed some soap meant for cleaning hair. "If you are so steeped and experienced in carnal pleasures, why would you request such careful handling?"

"Gently, Thor! I do not have as thick a skull as yours," replied Loki as Thor worked up a lather by massaging Loki's skull with large fingers. He roughly pulled Loki's soapy hair back, exposing his throat and bowing his back. Loki smiled at Thor cheekily, the only thing stopping him from falling backwards and under the water being Thor's grip. Thor grabbed a jug for water with his free hand and doused Loki's hair clean of soap, hauling him bodily out of the bath with little consideration.

"Don't pout, Thor. The truth is, as you guessed, I have rarely been intimate in this form. You could say I am a virgin, in a very restrictive sense of the word. I was sent abroad when I was very young to train in seidr, and to learn spywork and diplomacy. Frost Giants are rare and distinctive as a species; thus I adopted Aes form for anonymity and discretion when I was but on the cusp of manhood. Soon, I adopted it as a matter of course."

Loki put on a teasing tone. "So, the majority of my young fumblings and adult dalliances have been as an Aes, and much of it in pursuit of spying and being _very_ diplomatic."

Thor grunted an acknowledgement and forced himself to be gentle as he towelled Loki dry. Red eyes peered at him through a curtain of dark, curling, damp hair, and to Thor's surprise, Loki was no longer smiling, teasing.

Loki asked, now serious, "What is it that bothers you? My past amusements are hardly news to you." He was looking at Thor consideringly, clearly unsure as to why Thor was vexed.

Thor shook himself. He was being ridiculous. But this underlined how little he knew his sorcerer. He himself was an open book, and a constant, known quantity whereas Loki...Loki guarded his secrets carefully, and could change from moment to moment, whenever he took a notion.

"I have not asked you for your fidelity, Loki," said Thor. For all he knew, Loki had picked up old dalliances where they had left off once the war between their realms ended. "Nor offered you mine, I suppose." Thor had his entanglements in Asgard, it was true.

They were facing each other now, newly washed, still damp, nude, Loki still with his hands pinned behind his back. Thor cupped Loki's neck with one hand and stroked his thumb along the slightly raised lines of Loki's cheek. "You have given me no oaths nor promises and yet I find myself angry that you may share yourself -aspects of yourself- with others who may know you better than I do."

Thor leaned forward, knowing he had skirted if not crossed a line, and kissed his apology onto Loki's mouth. _I will not chain you unwillingly to me again, Loki_. He hoped Loki accepted his apology. Loki had gone still, and Thor was not sure how this boded. His sorcerer could become angry and withdraw at a perceived slight with no hope of reconciliation until Loki decided his fit of pique had passed, or could accept the gravest insult with understanding and dispassion. Thor had no idea where on this spectrum his actions or Loki's reactions would fall.

" _No-one_ knows me better than you do," Loki said, finally. "You may not understand me or be able to predict me, Thor, but only you know me. You see me. I lay myself naked at your feet every time we speak, every time we kiss, every single time we meet. How can you imagine I would share myself with others like I do with you?"

Thor wondered if it pained Loki to tell the truth simply because he hated speaking so when a lie might be more entertaining, or whether it was because Loki truly hated being vulnerable, even with Thor. But Thor knew it for truth all the same.

He pressed their foreheads together, and kissed Loki again, cupping his neck all the while. "I am selfish, and greedy, and jealous too, sorcerer. I have made no secret of it. I would have you for my own, and mine only. I would chain you to my bed if I did not know exactly how badly that would end." Loki laughed at that, at least.

Thor scooped him up, which naturally angered the sorcerer who began to futilely struggle.

" _Thor_. I am cuffed at the wrists, not the ankles."

Thor laughed and nuzzled him as he lay Loki on the bed. Loki pulled himself up into a sitting position and allowed Thor to prop him up on pillows, and to cover him from the waist down with a light blanket after wrapping a towel around his own waist.

"You should eat," Thor said. "How have you been treated these past days?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "They are frightened of me more than anything, and the Vanir do not seem to appoint as guards the kind of petty bully that one might regret in a prison such as this. All things considered, I am fine. I have had to eat like a dog with my hands restrained, but they at least leave me in privacy for that. I can just about wipe my own backside, too. It's been unpleasant, but not terribly uncomfortable. The waste of time is what bothers me the most. Norns, I have been bored." He took a morsel from the dining sticks Thor held in front of him and chewed slowly.

"The dwarves will come for you, Loki. How do you intend to deal with that?"

"I'll point them in the direction of Jotunheim. Now that we can take our place among the Nine again, trade will resume, I hope. Perhaps the prospect of wealth and an exchange of skills will soften their anger towards me. And if they try to take their annoyances out on my realm, they will learn better of it." Loki accepted another morsel selected by Thor for him.

Thor tried not to smile. The dwarves would be wise to avoid entangling Loki in negotiations; he would not forgive them for that.

Thor continued, "They might be flattered to find out that it was in fact the uncrowned king of Jotunheim who valued their blades so highly, hmm?"

"The uncrowned king of Jotunheim would like a sip of that delicious-looking red wine, please." Thor held the glass for him, and then took a sip himself.

Loki had accepted a morsel from each plate and one sweet, and seemed satisfied enough. Thor leaned over and kissed him. "Comfortable?" he murmured.

Loki replied, with a glint in his eye, "I have something terribly uncomfortable around my wrists, my love. Won't you help me?"

Thor chuckled. "The gag is gone, Loki, be grateful for that. I told you, I do not wish to offend our Vanir hosts and you did get yourself into this after all, by being foolish not once, but twice. The cuffs and the collar remain."

Loki smiled a sharp, dangerous smile. "You puzzle me, Thor. You profess jealousy at the possibility I might share myself with another, as if I have ever truly considered allowing any else to properly rule me, in bed or out of it. Yet you are happy to pleasure and feed me while I sit in your bath and your bed restrained not by your own hand, but by that of another?"

He twisted so that Thor could clearly see the Vanir cuffs keeping his hands pinned behind his back and continued in a teasing, taunting tone that Thor had not heard since Loki had tormented him in the Aesir war camp on Jotunheim. "I would not welcome the presence of another between us, Thunderer, but if you are willing to accept this as a sop to your hosts, what choice have I?"

A slow, deep anger began to curdle in Thor. There was annoyance too, at Loki's obvious manipulation, but the annoyance was cut through by a rising wave of jealousy. What Loki had said was ridiculous of course, but also somehow true. Thor did not like that another had restrained Loki, that another had put bruises, light though they may be, on his skin. That another had manhandled him, and made him kneel. 

Thor could see from Loki's grin that he was pleased that the knife he had aimed at Thor's ego -and his heart- had flown true. It had not been to Thor that Loki had surrendered. It was not at Thor's whim that Loki had been unable to slap Thor for throwing him over his shoulder. It was not Thor's restraints that Loki had struggled against while being pleasured in the bath. 

With a growl, he called Mjolnir to him, and suddenly Loki's victorious grin slid from his face to be replaced by wariness bordering on fear. "Take _care_ , Thunderer!" he near-yelped as Thor grabbed him by the crook of the elbow. "If you break my wrist or arm, I swear you will wait on me hand and foot until I heal!" This did not sound too onerous to Thor in the moment, but nonetheless he carefully swung Mjolnir in a tight arc to break the cuffs which had stolen his sorcerer's surrender from him.

It was absurd, really, the degree of control Thor required to finesse the blow. There was no need for the exertion of such power to break such flimsy manacles, but Thor wanted, needed, nay - _desired_ \- to display to Loki and to whomever had held Loki’s hands behind his back and tied Loki’s wrists together that he, Thor, god of thunder, king of Asgard, protector of the Nine Realms would defend what was _his_ all of his might. He felt a storm gather in the Vanir skies.

" _Thor_ ," gasped Loki. "You have the damn _key_ , Thor." He rolled his shoulders stiffly and brought his freed arms forward, watching Thor carefully all the while. He yelped again when Thor roughly worked a finger between his neck and the collar and pulled to see if he could pinpoint a spot to strike with Mjolnir.

"No, Thor!" Loki looked angry and not a little frightened. "I will not risk a broken neck or head because of your temper! My hands are free, is this not your wish?" Loki was now holding tightly onto Thor's wrist with both his hands as Thor continued to spin Mjolnir with his free one, towering over a helplessly caught Loki. 

The expression on the sorcerer’s face was one now of supplication, of fear, and of tenderness and concern. "Thor. The dwarves will no doubt have worked a spell into the collar to prevent it being removed by crude force. I will remove it myself with time. Peace, Thunderer. Peace, my love. Peace, my prince, my king."

Thor's heart began to slow, though still soured by a jealous anger, a low, smouldering rage at any who would dare touch his sorcerer. Mjolnir slowed her spin too, sensing the retreat of his temper, and the skies without began to slowly clear as a wind picked up and scattered the gathering clouds and dissipating tension in the skies. Loki let out a relieved sigh, and loosened his grip on Thor's wrist where Thor still kept him immobile with a firm grip on the collar that encircled his throat. 

Thor stared hard down at Loki for a moment, and then with a flick of his wrist, sent the sorcerer sprawling backwards on the bed. Loki landed with a grunt and lay as motionless as he could, as if fearing to attract Thor's attention. Thor could see his chest rise and fall rapidly, like that of a frightened fox, and Thor found himself smiling acidly. _No fox, he. A wolf in fox's fur._

He moved onto the bed on all fours, approaching Loki slowly and deliberately, as if stalking him. Loki began rubbing his sore wrists. Thor did enjoy Loki’s attempts to play victim. Loki allowed Thor to lean over him, and Thor caged him with his arms. He blinked up at Thor nervously and gave him big, fearful eyes, lowering them as if intimidated. Thor took his wrists, which looked a little chafed but not terribly so, and kissed them both. “Loki. I care not for your squabbles with dwarves. Nor truly that you have inconvenienced my allies. But did you really think to rouse _my_ anger and to escape your share of it?” 

He waited for the Trickster’s attempt to deflect, to distract, to dismiss his anger. Instead, wearing an expression of unbearable smugness, Loki replied. “Going to teach me the error of my ways, Thunderer? I would say better men than you have tried, but I would be wary of your tender feelings, you understand.”

Thor felt a wave of fucking _fury_ roll through him. The little _shit_. Blatantly throwing the fact of his other dalliances at Thor! Taunting him with the idea that others could discipline Loki better than he? Thor did not care if these ‘better men’ were past or present acquaintances of Loki’s; he intended to show his sorcerer just how well Thor could discipline him. 

Loki’s breath hitched, as if he wasn’t quite sure of the wisdom of his taunt, and rightly so. Thor reached for him, intending to drag the sorcerer from the bed by the hair. He was rewarded with a surprised yowl from the sorcerer as he tried to escape Thor's grasp, and then a truly startled gasp as Thor slapped him hard across the face. 

The evident astonishment and the blooming print of his hand on Loki’s face gave Thor a grim pleasure. Loki was still trying to skitter away, but Thor caught Loki again by the hair and dragged him off the bed.

Loki was trying not to cry out as Thor put him first on all fours on the ground and then wrenched him across the room. He let out an ‘oof’ as Thor bent him over the chaise longue, and rubbed at his pained scalp as he threw a dirty look over his shoulder at Thor. Thor grabbed rope from his hunting bag; it would be rough on Loki’s already sore skin but Thor did not care in that moment. Loki lay unresisting as Thor spreadeagled him and tied each of his wrists and ankles to opposite legs of the seat, although he did test the ties once they were fast.

Thor leaned one knee on Loki’s lower back to check that his sorcerer was properly spread out on the seat, face-down and on his belly. It would not do to be interrupted by Loki’s mere discomfort in how he was positioned; Thor intended to let loose on Loki until he _begged_ to apologise. He fisted his own cock, which had begun to feel neglected.

Thor did not need to see Loki’s face to hear the sneer in his voice as he said, “Do your worst, Thunderer. Or rather, your best. I shall be sure to give you a thorough critique when you have worn out your arm and your cock and perhaps suggest some... _friends_ of mine you could speak to if you would like to improve your technique.”

Thor went down on his knees beside Loki, lay a hand on his bare ass and growled near his ear. “You play a dangerous game, sorcerer. You may do as you will, but I will not be spoken to as you have this evening.” Loki’s skin goose-pimpled and he bowed his back slightly.

Thor took the opportunity to wallop his ass with an open hand, a bruising slap which Thor knew Loki would be feeling the next day even if it was an open-handed strike. Loki gasped, a gratifying sound, but Thor knew he needed to hear far more from Loki tonight. He needed to hear tears choke Loki’s cries, tears Thor had caused. He needed to hear yelps and groans and hopeless begging and acquiescence and cries of torment from his sorcerer. He needed to hear the truth of what his love would endure for him, the pain Loki would take to please Thor, the agony Loki demanded that Thor inflict on him as proof of his need for Loki. He wanted to feel the twisty, knotty thoughts and lies that ran around his sorcerer’s head melt away as he cried out in pain and pleasure, and the quiet of that strange place between the two where Loki went sometimes. He ran his hand along his own length, frustrated. It wasn’t enough.

Thor was almost vibrating with the need to expend his jealous rage on his taunting lover’s hide. His taunting, teasing, _faithless_ lover. Was Loki in truth faithless? Did Thor have the right to demand fidelity of him? Well, Loki could not mind if Thor indulged his jealousy; after all, he was encouraging it. Thor growled again at the thoughts of others laying their hands on Loki as he did. _I will teach the sorcerer better of it, and then find those who he gives himself up to and I will teach them better too_.

Thor looked for a likely tool to use on Loki’s bare skin, but could see nothing in the room, and reached for his belt instead, looping it for better control. The sorcerer laughed, a condescending laugh. Thor had not heard that tone from Loki since the first night he had captured him, his great enemy turned war-prize and slave, on the plains of Jotunheim. That night he had taken Loki in his tent for the first time, and Loki had sneered at him for a fool and a hypocrite.

His cock, already straining, leapt at the shameful memory, one of the most sensuous, pleasurable and gratifying experiences of Thor’s considerable sexual exploits. He could remember it almost without shame now; the sight of Loki belly down on Thor’s pallet, restrained by chains and seidr-dampening cuffs and Mjolnir, the lightning scar down Loki’s back proof of Thor’s battlefield prowess and dominance of his enemy, the unexpected beauty of Loki, the astonishing defiance and fortitude of the man.

He decided to put off the feelings of guilt til later; for now he would enjoy and indulge himself in the physical memory of it. Loki was laid before him again, of his own volition this time, willing to submit to Thor because he loved him, and trusted him. Because they loved and trusted each other, and shared strange, but complementary tastes. 

And yet here his sorcerer still dared defy him. Loki had turned his head so Thor could see the look of condescension on his face. What was he…? Ah, the belt. 

“Really Thunderer, have you not already tried to beat sense into me with that?”

“Tried and tested and found it to be true, sorcerer,” Thor smiled, and swatted Loki on the shoulders sharply but lightly. “The fact that the lesson doesn’t take properly is not due to my aid but more the fault of my..,” -he cracked the belt with some force across Loki’s rump - “ _student_.”

Loki grunted, but gave Thor no more than that, not that Thor expected it. Thor was still for a moment, raking his eyes over Loki’s kneeling, restrained form, shoulders to ass, his little pucker and soft slit clearly visible, his lean strong thighs and legs, the black nails of his feet...

Thor’s inaction was having an effect on the sorcerer. Loki shifted nervously and glanced over his shoulder again to see what Thor was doing. Good. Thor placed a hand on Loki’s ass where the second blow had landed and rubbed experimentally. Loki moved a little, not in obvious lasting pain just yet. Thor intended to change that, and quickly. 

To Thor’s amusement, Loki continued to taunt. “You know, Thunderer, if you want to improve your _aids_ , the elves of Alfheim have many implements you might find useful. If you are unsure as to their best use, I have some associates who would be happy to demonstrate on me how - _ahh!_ ” Loki’s taunt was cut off as Thor brought the belt down on his backside again, hard. Thor decided not to bother doling out strikes for any action or speech Loki had taken, or counting the strikes, he decided to just beat on Loki’s taunting, condescending, disloyal, demanding, greedy, _enraging_ ass until he got bored with it.

First he bent close to Loki’s ear and pulled his head up by the hair. He growled “You had better remember what agreement we made that would stop me from raising my hand to you, Loki, because I promise, nothing else will stay my temper tonight.” Loki looked at Thor with shock, mouth open, eyes wide, as if he had not expected this. Probably he had not. Even better. Thor twisted his hand in Loki’s hair causing tears to form at the corner of his green eyes, and Thor smiled grimly, delighted. “Do you remember, Loki?” 

Loki hesitated for a moment. “Ketch,” he said in a small voice. “Thor…”

Thor let go of Loki’s hair and turned his face back to the ground, to a small gasp from Loki at the dismissive nature of the gesture. Still holding the belt in his sword hand so Loki could feel the leather, Thor ran both his hands along Loki’s back, upwards and down, the skin darker than he was accustomed to, ridged with the marks of the Jotunn which were pleasingly rough under his fingertips.

He turned his short, sharp fingernails to scrape Loki’s lower back and across the welts on his backside that were beginning to deepen in colour. Loki winced slightly as Thor scraped his nails gently enough up and down his cheeks and upper thighs. Thor knew Loki quite liked the sensation of being gently but firmly scratched, but the anticipation of a whipping was making him anxious. Perfect. Despite this, under his gentle hands, which stroked and petted and kneaded, he could feel Loki’s body relax against even its master’s better judgement. And yes, he could see Loki’s cock half-swollen and the tell-tale glisten between his legs as Loki began to helplessly respond to Thor’s knowing hands.

In a much shorter time than Thor had expected, Loki twitched, turned his head and snapped, “ _Thor_. Get on with it! You make me beg for your cock and your tongue often enough, and now you make me beg for a whipping? I promise you, you will pay for this.”

Thor laughed outright, a cruel laugh, he knew. He watched in pleasure as Loki winced again, knowing that Thor had got the better of him. The only place Thor could do so was in bed sports, so of course he did so as often as he thought he could get away with. He might just have pushed his sorcerer too far this time, but that was a problem for later.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor prepares to punish Loki for provoking a jealous rage.

Thor knew from the shudder that ran through Loki that he could sense Thor's presence looming behind him, over him, as Loki lay splayed face-down across the long seat of the chair, wrists and ankles bound to its legs. Good. Feel the fear, little Frost Giant. 

He ran his hands up and down the sorcerer’s body, anger throbbing through his fingertips, causing Loki to cringe despite the softness of the touch. He did enjoy feeling Loki beneath his hands; slender but strong, and, he knew from painful experience, fast as a snake. There was a peculiar satisfaction now in having the sorcerer helpless at his feet, unable to defend or attack with his body or his magics.

"Ah, Loki. I am going to make you regret your manipulations of me this evening, and your smart words. And you without seidr, what a shame for you."

He didn't intend give Loki a chance to respond. Before Loki had more than a moment to even open his mouth, his sharpest weapon, Thor swung the belt as hard as he could across Loki's rump, once, twice, three times, then paused for Loki's reaction.

Loki's backside blossomed with more white stripes, anticipating the raised dark welts of abused flesh that Thor found himself delighting in. Loki gasped in shock, and then groaned, the sound emanating from deep in his belly; visceral, utterly titillating to Thor. He wanted to hear many, many more of such sounds from Loki, his treacherous, poisonous snake of a sorcerer. Delicious chills went down his spine, pooling low in his belly.

In truth, Thor was surprised at the amount of pain he heard in Loki's groan. Presumably the viciousness of the blows had been as much as a surprise to Loki. Thor hoped so. He would teach Loki the better of trying to exploit Thor's anger.

While Loki was adjusting to the pain, panting, Thor deftly slipped a finger between Loki's exposed nether lips, dipped in quickly and circled his fingertip roughly around that sensitive spot behind Loki's pelvis. Loki tensed and shifted, his body confused by the conflicting signals. Thor's cock twitched in anticipation. He pressed down, experimentally.

“Don’t,” gasped Loki. “Don’t do that.”

“You would deny me, Loki?” Thor slipped in a second large finger, driving another guttural moan from Loki. Thor crooked both fingers and stroked the sensitive internal front walls of Loki’s quim quickly and not at all gently, and was rewarded with a cry of shock and confusion from his sorcerer, who began to squirm and struggle to escape his bonds. 

"No! I said no, Thor! Do not do that! Stop at once! Ahhh! You will stop that now!"

Thor put a stop to Loki's struggles by pressing firmly down on the small of Loki’s back and holding him still. Loki could wriggle his upper body and legs ever so slightly, but was effectively immobilised and powerless, at the mercy of restraining ropes and the strength and weight of Thor. He was thrilled at Loki’s vulnerability. Had any of his pretty elf friends in Alfheim been able to render Loki thus with their elegant elven hands? Thor doubted it.

Satisfyingly, Loki continued to struggle futilely. “No. No no NO. Aggggh! Get off me, Thor. Get _off._ Get your oafish hands away from me _immediately._ ” 

Thor just grinned, keeping Loki pinned and still driving his fingers inside Loki’s quim. He felt a gush of moist wetness as Loki groaned again. “No. Nooo!” Thor continued punishing him with strong strokes into that hot, increasingly wet opening between his legs as he lay helplessly restrained, open and vulnerable. Thor wondered what Loki was feeling...discomfort? Pleasure? Desire? Reluctance? 

Thor was hoping for an unsettling combination of all of these, and maybe some fucking _regret_ for his earlier taunting. Let Loki experience the disquieting feeling of being without control. Let Loki feel dismay and helplessness and pain in return for the anger and jealousy Thor felt as Loki had teased him about his other lovers, about others he had allowed to touch him. 

Loki began to whimper and his voice dropped to a whisper, “No. No. Stop, stop, don’t. It hurts, it...ahhhh!”

“I can’t hear you, my love.” Thor continued to saw his fingers in and out, pressing down savagely where Loki was most sensitive. Loki began to mewl wordlessly as Thor felt the beginnings of a familiar pulsing as strong hot wet muscles started to squeeze and suck at his fingers, and Thor removed his hand from Loki’s back to palm his own cock, delighting in his control of his helpless love. 

He pumped his fingers a few more times into Loki as he pleasured himself too, enjoying the gasps and half-formed begging words from the sorcerer, music to his ears. 

Loki sounded as if he was about to break into tears, disbelief and rage in his orders and pleadings. "You must stop. You are pressing too hard, stop, you don't know what you're doing to me, it's too much, get them _out._ Ahhh! You cannot do this to me."

Thor noticed grimly that Loki had begun to cry out in earnest, in _pleasure._ Well, then. Just as Loki began to grind back on Thor’s fingers, eyes closed and his face contorted with reluctance and desire, Thor withdrew.

Before Loki had a chance to process it, just as he made a stunned sound of realisation, Thor reared back with the belt and lashed it across Loki's backside again, once, twice, three times, four, _five_...shocking himself with a sudden brutish desire to inflict pain on Loki's sensitive opening. He put that out of his mind for now; even if that was something his sorcerer might like him to do, Loki's seidr was locked away and Thor would not risk an injury with no means to repair it.

Loki positively screeched in pain and shock at each of the five rapid blows. His body was surely utterly bewildered, moving from the brink of an ecstasy which was nearly in his grasp, to bright, burning, wildfire pain cracking across his ass and his thighs and setting his mind alight. 

Thor wondered how fast even Loki’s quicksilver mind could keep up. Thor’s victory here would be in forcing Loki to be immersed in his physical feelings only, at the mercy of Thor’s strong hand and cock, forgetting his games and his manipulations. Forgetting that anyone else had ever laid hands on him, in affection or in passion or in pain-inflicted pleasure. Thor felt a fresh burst of anger roll over and through him. _His_ sorcerer. To please and to hurt at his whim. 

He slid two fingers back inside his sorcerer, searching again for that sensitive, sensitised spot. Loki gave a strangled shout and tried to get away, to no avail. Wishing he had some oil, Thor took a hold of Loki’s cock and as best he could, found a rhythm where he could best pleasure both together. Loki appeared to lose his breath for a moment. He was near choking at the intensity of the sensations assaulting him, and Thor could imagine how the flaming welts on his ass throbbed and burned in pain as Thor drew out pleasure from his quim and cock with fingers and hand. 

"Have your elven friends worked you so, Loki? Tell me now. I beg you to share with me the benefit of their experience." He circled his fingers inside, learning the contours of Loki's quim by fingertip, gently but firmly mapping him. How strange that there was still a part of his sorcerer that he did not know intimately. He smiled to himself. Would he ever really know all of Loki? So many secrets, so many diversions and lies. Thor relished their time ahead together, where he would continue to peel away layers of deceit and obfuscation faster than Loki could create new ones. He would win, in the end, only he did not truly wish to. He treasured his Liesmith exactly as he was.

Loki was panting. Thor decided to demand an answer. "Tell me, Loki. I have asked you, and you will answer. Who else has made you feel thus, hmm? What advice would they offer me if they were here?"

There was strain on Loki's face, just enough for his words to carry a ring of truth, if one was looking for it. "None, Thor, there has been no-one. No-one but you. Only you, Thunderer, I swear it."

Thor smiled. It was not a pleasant smile, not when married to the expression on the rest of his face. Right in that moment, he did not care of Loki lied or not. He began to saw his fingers in and out again, rhythmically, with just enough pressure as he scooped his crooked fingers in and out of Loki's quim.

Loki was beginning to moan and whimper in growing ecstasy and confusion as Thor drove him again towards his peak. Without warning, Thor again withdrew his attentions just as Loki started to come, and Loki cried out in anguish as Thor allowed him to begin an empty, frictionless, pressureless, unsatisfying orgasm. Thor watched, deeply gratified, as Loki began to climb frustrating, desolate heights, his cock and quim spasming uselessly in an attempt to draw joy from an absence, a void where Thor’s fingers and hand and tongue or cock should rightly have been.

At this moment, the moment of Loki’s frustrating crest, Thor whipped the belt down hard and fast as many times as he could across Loki’s rump, taking exquisite satisfaction as Loki screamed in shock and pain and desperate, maddeningly unfulfilling pleasure, his hips juddering in a parody of a deep orgasm. Loki had once told him that pain was much like an orgasm, and if inflicted properly could bring just as much joyous, transporting sensation. Thor gloatingly wondered if the pain that he was beating into Loki now was as satisfying to his sorcerer as the empty promise of the climax he was enduring. 

Loki’s body slumped as he came down from the combined peak of pain and not quite pleasure, panting and heaving, trying to come to terms with the wildly conflicting sensations he had experienced. Thor watched his face carefully as Loki struggled to process the shock, the not-orgasm, the agony; watched as Loki grimace and begin to sob angrily as the pure pain reasserted itself. Thor knew there was likely an ache deep in his core, the ache of near- but not quite-satisfaction, conjoined with thundering pain and fire across his backside and his thighs.

Thor let him sob for a few moments. He was almost, but not quite sorry for what he had just put Loki through. Besides, he angered still, and so was only just beginning. 

He bent down to enjoy better the suffering of his sorcerer, who was looking at him through tears and gasps as if wondering who Thor was.

“I did not think you had such inventive cruelty in you, Thunderer,” Loki said, striving unsuccessfully to keep his voice even. 

"What did you expect, Loki? An offer of mercy? A negotiation? Demands from me for you to confess all your filthy secrets? Or for an apology for your ill-judged words, for driving me to jealous anger, for manipulating me? The truth is, sorcerer, I don't give a fuck who you let fuck you or who you let touch you. Because you will always belong to me, first, and foremost, and finally."

Thor cupped Loki’s face with both hands, kissing him on the lips affectionately and cherishingly. 

“You drive me to such depths of anger, sorcerer. You cannot complain about what might be found lurking down there in the dark.”

Loki smiled, tears still in his eyes. “Who said I was complaining, Thor?”

Thor frowned. “If you think this has satisfied my anger, Loki, you would do well to think again.”

Loki's smile faded and he looked carefully at Thor, measuringly, and, yes, Thor was delighted to see, challengingly. 

“If you think this has satisfied me in any way, Thunderer, you would do well to think -and try- again.”

Thor shook his head and stood, looking down at his infuriating sorcerer. He slapped him gently across the face. 

“You are in no position to make demands, sorcerer.” 

Belt around his wrist, cock jutting out, naked, sweaty, and almost as wrung out as Loki though he was, Thor had no intention of stopping now. His cock was beginning to ache from want, and he decided to ease it using Loki. After all, in this moment, that’s what Loki was for, a tool to ease Thor’s troubles, such as they were. Ah, Loki. Currently the cause of, and solution to, all of Thor’s problems.

He looked at Loki’s resentful expression, and smiled, deciding he would not stop until he changed that to pleading and repentance. He took Loki’s jaw gently in one hand and his cock in the other, and was pleased to see a small hint of fear creep over Loki. Despite all, of course he was still rebellious. 

“Be careful, Thunderer,” he growled. “If you have truly taken off the gloves, then so shall I.”

It took all Thor had not to laugh. His fury was rising again, and was not lessened by the humour he found in this. “Really, Loki. Have you not provoked me enough this night? And what are you to do, in any case?” He bent down and kissed the sorcerer’s forehead.

Loki tossed his heard. “Do what you will, Thor. Do your worst. _I dare you_.”

Thor scoffed. He stroked his cock meaningfully, and lowered himself to his knees so his crotch was level with Loki’s mouth.

Loki clamped his mouth shut, forbidding Thor entrance.

Thor’s lust was rampant at this point, neither was his anger in any way assuaged, but he knew ways to quench both. So did Loki, he suspected. 

Thor put gentle pressure on Loki’s jaw to encourage him to open again and shook his head, not unkindly, when the sorcerer predictably failed to respond. 

“Open, Loki, or it will be the harder for you.”

Loki glared at him mulishly, not even opening his mouth to answer with a barb, disappointing Thor. His cock really did need relief at this point, and Loki’s resistance was not helping matters, every glare he favoured Thor with causing Thor’s cock to yearn a little more. 

“Are you as unco-operative with your other _friends_ , hmm Loki? Your skilled companions who could teach me a thing or two? I think I could teach _them_ a thing or two when it comes to making you obedient. Did they ever make you sincerely beg, plead, cry for mercy? Or were you the one in true control all the time? I suspect so. But not with me, sorcerer. You will not retain control when you’re in my charge.” 

Loki growled. His fierceness was not lessened by the pain still evident in his face, the tear stains at the corner of his eyes, the sweat and darkness of his skin from enduring sharp intense pain at Thor’s pleasure. Oh, he was beautiful. And he was Thor’s, and only Thor’s, whether he liked it or not.

Thor gripped Loki’s jaw harder and used it to steer Loki’s head from side to side. He stopped for a moment to consider the beauty before him; the aristocratic cheekbones, the fine mouth, the intelligence in the eyes and the sureness of self in the quirk of those eyebrows, the Jotunn markings which were mysterious to Thor but surely meant something to his sorcerer...and the expression of utter disdain for Thor that radiated from the whole of that handsome, maddening face.

Loki's expression had turned from fear to contempt and Thor realised that once again his own expression must have revealed his moment of sentiment, so he steeled himself and determined to wipe the look from his sorcerer's face. He did not intend to give Loki a chance to voice any of his poison. 

Thor slapped him. The satisfaction of knocking the contemptuous expression from Loki’s face only lasted a moment as Loki regained his equilibrium exasperatingly fast, so Thor slapped him again, wrenching his hair viciously for good measure. Loki made a strangled noise and surprise flitted across that face for a brief moment as Thor’s hand slapped it once more, with force. Thor pulled Loki’s hair, then slapped him again. Loki’s mouth opened as he gasped in shock and Thor seized the advantage by grabbing Loki’s jaw in an attempt to keep Loki’s mouth open, but Loki forced it shut again, so Thor slapped again, and again. 

Tears were gathering at the corner of Loki’s eyes as Thor alternated pulling Loki’s hair with slapping his face and still the sorcerer refused to acquiesce, screwing his eyes and mouth shut and barely grunting as Thor’s own hand began to become sore. 

Thor grinned. Loki would pass out before opening his mouth again, that was clear. It didn’t matter what he willed, however. Loki was going to suck Thor’s cock, going to _choke_ on it no matter what Thor had to do to convince him to open up and play nice.

Thor pressed the head of his cock against Loki’s cheek, rubbing it, smearing the clear fluid across it. Loki opened one furious, tear-filled eye and Thor took the opportunity to move his cockhead to the apple of Loki’s cheek and Loki snarled, closing his eye immediately before Thor leisurely pushed his cock against and around it. 

Thor did not bother to press the momentary advantage of Loki’s snarl, but took a moment to continue rubbing his cock all over Loki’s face. Loki’s face relaxed as he leaned into the sensation, and to Thor’s amusement, he stuck out the flat of his tongue for a quick, sneaky lick with his eyes still closed as Thor dragged his cock across Loki’s mouth. Thor pushed experimentally against his lips, but Loki simply was not giving in. 

Fine. 

Letting his anger fly again, Thor pulled back Loki’s hair

“Whether you like it or not, Loki, you are to demonstrate for me some of the skills that your friends no doubt taught you. Pray that I find those skills adequate, or I will be forced to teach you the better myself.”

Thor grabbed the belt from the floor and moved away from Loki, who opened his eyes and watched him warily as he moved out of Loki’s line of sight.  
  
“What...are you doing, Thor? You surely are not resorting to beating me with the belt again so soon, are you?”

Ah. He had a point. Thor mused for a few moments. Perhaps he had something in his hunting equipment…

He could hear Loki start to struggle behind him as Thor rummaged through his folded bag and found what he was looking for. He did not often carry a switch for riding as Gullflaxi and he knew each other too well for the need of such a thing, but he smiled as he swished his light riding crop through the air and heard the satisfying sharp crack on his palm.

Loki quieted again at the noise. He turned his head slightly, though Thor was standing out of his field of vision. The riding crop would not cause the sorcerer anything like the kind of pain he liked, if used on its own, but it would certainly make its presence felt wherever Thor's belt had already landed. And on more sensitive areas.

"You said you were bored by my belt, sorcerer, although it seems to have grabbed your attention well enough. All the same, I am of a mood to meet your wish for me to wield something different."

Loki was utterly still, alert to any change in Thor's position or to any hint of what had made that cracking noise. Thor really did enjoy having the advantage of him. He moved silently closer to Loki again, and without warning, brought the switch down across Loki's shoulders. Loki tensed, grunted, then struggled a little in his bonds.

Thor stroked the marks he had left on Loki’s ass and thighs, Loki wriggling hopelessly all the while. Thor checked for any breaks in the skin, just in case. He was not terribly practised at this and would not wound Loki from carelessness, no matter that he wished to lose himself in the moment.

Thor ran his thumb up and down the opening to Loki's quim and mused on his urge to hurt Loki, hurt him _here_. No tonight, not with Loki actually at his mercy, but another time, perhaps. He sighed regretfully. How far could he push his sorcerer this night?

Time to find out. How far had Loki’s playmates pushed him? Had he cried for them, begged for them, smiled and verbally sparred with them? Played mind games and manipulated them? Were they friends, or simply providing Loki with a service he needed, enjoyed, desired? Did he lie with them afterwards, talk with them affectionately, sleep beside them? Thor didn’t want to know. He had to know. He would never ask.

His rage, which had calmed to a banked, deep and almost calm anger, ignited again, and before he could interrogate his jealousies further, he brought the crop down sharply against Loki’s inner thigh. Loki had not expected this and howled in surprise. Thor gave him no respite and began to beat a tattoo over every inch of him from hips to knees, not sparing the thus far unspoilt but sensitive skin of his inner thighs, so close to his quim that Loki could surely feel the swish of the air as the crop lashed his thighs. 

Thor didn’t say a word, just kept taking his anger out on Loki’s flesh, controlling his breathing and the rhythm of his strikes as if he was practising the forms with his sword. He only altered his stance to move the crop to Loki’s upper shoulders when he thought Loki might be getting numb below. 

At first, after the initial howl of pain and surprise, Loki bore it stoically, giving Thor only the satisfaction of grunts and the occasional moan as Thor targeted a particularly well-used spot. Slowly the groans began to merge, and soon, Loki began to sob wordlessly. 

Thor stopped for a moment to fully appreciate the sight of Loki’s misery as tears rolled down the sorcerer’s face, his eyes swollen and despair beginning to bloom. He pulled Loki’s head back by the hair and tipped Loki’s chin back by holding the crop under so they were looking at each other, both panting. Loki’s eyes had widened at the sight of the crop, and looked as if he was considering giving in and opening his mouth this time if Thor pressed. 

His heaving breaths indicated he was trying to get his pain under control, and each desperate gasp went straight to Thor's cock. He wondered how much would it take to make Loki beg. A lot, from Thor’s previous experience. His sorcerer was tough, and stubborn. Nevertheless, he was gratified by the gasps and panting he could hear, Loki's body heaving as if he was running as fast as he could. 

Thor did not intend to play nicely, and he smiled at the thought that Loki thought perhaps he was. Without bringing his cock any closer to Loki’s face though, he raised the crop again, and carelessly brought it down along the length of Loki’s thighs. 

Loki screamed, and his whole body tensed again, then he went silent, apart from deep, controlled breaths. Thor wasn’t sure quite where the flat tip of the crop had struck him, but Loki was going to beg to give what he had refused Thor moments ago. Thor raised the crop again.

After a few moments of taking the lash in strained silence, the effort showing in his face and all over his body, Loki gave up. He started to cry again, his whole body limp, unable even to brace himself for the blows raining down on him.

Norns, Thor had enjoyed the long, slow, intense ride; pleasurable in its own way and with a very satisfying climax. As Loki began to beg, tears and sobs choking his voice, Thor found himself savouring the moment as if it was in its way its own sexual peak. 

“Enough, Thor, enough. Ahh! Stop, I beg you. Ah! I can’t, you mustn’t. Please. Please.”

His voice was quavering, full of tears and pain. Not enough, not yet. Thor was greedy and wanted it all in this moment. No mercy for his treacherous, disloyal, serpent sorcerer. 

“Thor, please! Please. I am begging you. No, no…” Loki looked up in terror as the crop came down again. “Aahhh!”

“Begging for what, Loki?” _Thwap_

“Mercy!”

“I have none. Not in this.” _Thwap_

“ _Ahhh!_ Forgiveness!”

“Not yet, Loki. Keep begging.” _Thwap_

“Wha..? What do you want from me? Ahhh, please Thor, what do you want?”

“Beg me for what you denied me just now, my love.”

Loki looked up at him in consternation and agony, and then his eyes dropped to Thor’s angry, straining cock. He looked up at Thor again, humiliation painted on his face.

“That is all? You want me to beg to suck your cock? _Ahhh!_ ”

“Fewer questions and more begging, Loki. Hurry, this arm grows tired and I will switch to my stronger but less precise left arm in but a moment…

Loki grimaced, whether in anticipation of fresh pain or in anger at being forced to humiliate himself, Thor was not sure, but he delighted in it. He brought the crop down one last time to a cry from Loki, and switched arms as he had promised.

Loki took advantage of the momentary respite to take a deep breath, and he started begging again.

“Thor. I am sorry I refused you. I was wrong. Let me...let me suck your cock, Thor. If you allow me to, I will gladly suck your cock…”

Loki opened his mouth and flattened his tongue in a welcoming gesture, still panting and trying to get the pain under control. Thor stared down at him, waiting to see a glint of the earlier threat in Loki’s eyes, but dropped to his knees nevertheless, taking his cock in hand and pressing the head onto the flat of Loki’s now freely offered tongue. He dragged it back and forth, enjoying the hot panting breaths greeting his cock before he slid it into the sorcerer’s waiting mouth. He bent down then to kiss Loki.

Loki smiled a pleased smile as Thor broke the kiss. "I do like it when you kneel for me, Thunderer."

" _ Quiet _ , Loki. Really, what must I do to convince you to hold your tongue? Short of choking you with cock, which you seem to enjoy as much as you do taunting me."

He put his hand to cup the back of Loki’s neck, a usually affectionate gesture that now held an undertone of dominance and control, given Loki’s vulnerable position. Loki began to move his head to take Thor’s cock into his mouth properly, and as he did so, Thor slipped his hand from around the back of Loki’s neck to his throat, just above the collar. He did not grip hard but Loki immediately withdrew his mouth and gasped, “Ketch! No, Thor, no pressure on my throat, ever.”

He was looking nervously at Thor, who withdrew his hand immediately, and moved back to give Loki space.

“I am sorry, Loki. I did not know.”

Loki growled, “Do not be sorry, Thunderer. As you were, for the sake of Ymir. I believe you were about to choke me with your cock, were you not?”

Thor laughed in disbelief. His sorcerer was shameless. He did not hesitate, and grabbed Loki’s jaw, forcing his cock between Loki’s lips, and oh, the blessed relief of the sensation of his tongue and soft sucking mouth. He withdrew until his head was still just within the sorcerer’s lips and pushed again until he hit the back of Loki’s throat, then slid back again, pushed forward and pumped to pass the barrier of the spasming throat. 

Loki swallowed him, and Thor released his hold, allowing Loki control, now that Thor had made his point. Loki had neither hands nor seidr to signal discomfort so Thor needed to cede control of this to him so he could speak if necessary. 

Thor allowed Loki to pleasure him for a handful of minutes, enough to take the ache and strain and discomfort from Thor’s cock and allow pleasure to start building. He ran his fingers down his sorcerer’s face. Loki looked back at him with something like calm; a cherishing look. Ah Loki. Thor had not expected naivety of him. 

Loki clearly expected Thor to talk now, to promise Loki relief if he would co-operate. What concession would Loki desire in return for mercy? Thor decided to offer none. Loki might think a promise to never mention his other dalliances again was worth something to Thor. If so, Loki was wrong. Thor would not be satisfied except if Loki begged to be allowed never mention such things in front of Thor again. 

Without bothering to speak to his sorcerer, he pulled Loki’s head off his cock and again let the length of the crop fly and with precision born of long weapons-training, hitting Loki again on the inside of his thigh, the flat end of the crop curling around it. Loki shrieked in anger, pain and helplessness, which escalated to howls when the crop met an existing wound. 

"Thor..!" Loki's hoarse cry sent a shiver from Thor's spine through to his lower belly. "I did as you asked, Thor! AAAH please, what are you doing?"

Ah, he could just fuck Loki now and consider it a fuck well earned.

"Did you think it was a show of acquiescence I wanted, Loki? No, I won't be satisfied by the performance of submission that may have been enough for your _friends._ "

Even as he had brought the switch down on Loki’s defenseless rump with as much vigour as he could summon, part of him was horrified by the satisfaction he took in this. A small part of him. Every other part of him was glorying in it, in Loki laying down for him, Loki handing him the cause to mete out punishment, Loki giving himself up to Thor’s anger, Loki accepting the pain, transmuting it into...Thor knew not what. A strange pleasure that only his sorcerer understood, and Thor was intrigued by.

With every strike, Loki was shrieking his horror and confusion at this new turn in the game. He had thought he controlled this, controlled Thor. Well, he did so in most things, Thor would have to concede. But not in this. Not in the matter of whom Loki belonged to.

"I am not asking, Loki. I am _demanding_. And I will take from you what is mine, what is due to me." Thor punctuated each sentence with a strike, causing Loki to keen.

Thor paused to regain his own breath. Then he bent down over Loki's torso to Loki’s ear again. He grinned as he did so, knowing Loki would hear the grin. Loki, on the verge of sobbing, tried to rear up but was restrained by ropes and by Thor's strong hand on the back of his neck.

Poisonously, Thor whispered, "I do not think I will be satisfied with whipping the mischief out of you tonight. What satisfaction can I take after a jealous rage? Maybe by being the first to spill in your untouched quim?" He leaned back and squatted a little so he could run the head of his cock between Loki's legs.

Loki closed his eyes as he flinched and shuddered at the sensation. Thor was not sure if it was in anxiety or anticipation, or a mix of the two.

“Ahhh! Thor...please please please..."

Thor was _delighted_ at Loki’s lost, scared expression. He looked down at his sorcerer, whose tear-streaked face turned hopelessly back to the floor again, lips moving as he gasped back sobs and silently begged Thor for...what? He did not think even Loki knew.

Thor smiled to himself. He _was_ in a vicious mood. Bending back down to Loki's ear, Thor felt Loki's eyes flutter open again in anticipation of more poison dripping from Thor's mouth into his ear. Thor was happy to oblige.

"No. I will not be the one to take your innocence, Loki, such as it is. As if you were ever innocent."

Loki gasped a laugh at this and then his breath hitched as he wondered at Thor's full meaning.

"Mmm. I think I will take you up on your offer to bring me to these friends of yours on Alfheim and elsewhere, the ones so skilled in bringing you to your pleasures. I will, as you suggested, allow them to demonstrate their skills on you, except it will not be _you_ who will dictate when their display ends, but _me_. Perhaps they would value your supposed maidenhead, at least as for a lark. If so, I will have them bid for it, and I will hold you open and exposed while the highest bidder presses his cock inside you and ruins you, then perhaps let the others take their turns. It could be then that my anger might be soothed, hmm?"

"Thor...you would not."

Loki barely whispered, but Thor heard him. He wondered what would happen if he acted on this threat. Would Loki treat it as part of the game? Loki knew Thor was formidable in his anger, and ruthless besides, but how far did Loki trust Thor's love to overcome these?

Thor saw and felt Loki's fear of him, fear that Thor understood and regretted, because he was who he was, and Loki was who he was, and that could not be changed. But Loki did truly trust Thor, in these bed-sports and in other matters of his heart. That trust was a precious and hard-won gift. Thor found himself wondering at it for a moment, looking into the clever eyes of his sorcerer.

Loki's skin beneath his hand was blazing hot, but Thor's eyes were drawn inexorably again to the soft, wet entrance beneath and between Loki's beaten, flaming flesh. He found himself kneeling between Loki's restrained legs and, Loki's cheeks still his hands, pulled them apart slightly to dip his tongue between the soft petals which parted for him. He could feel the heat from Loki’s abused flesh on his face, felt Loki struggle and whimper as he swirled his tongue and placed a hand on Loki's cock. Taking Loki in hand, he began to urgently eat him out as he stroked Loki's cock, the rhythm of his hand and tongue matching the near painful pulse of his own cock.

He could hear Loki mewl as pleasure built in him, but Thor wasn't done with his fun yet. Almost regretfully, he released his grip on Loki's weeping, straining cock and paused his tongue's attentions, taking a moment to palm his own cock. He grinned to himself as he heard Loki start to curse and insult him. He hadn't planned that, and it was more than perfect.

“Not again, Thor! You dolt, you brute, blast you and your wretched tongue, and your fingers and your cock too! May they all catch the black itch and fall off! _You will not leave me unsatisfied again!_ ”

"Manners, Loki." Thor grabbed the crop again, and shut Loki up with some well-placed strikes. His curses turned into cries of pain, and then into pleas.

"I have done what you wanted, Thunderer, what more can you demand? Please, mercy!"

Thor listened carefully for a sign that it was too much, but Loki showed no sign of yielding the game, beyond crying at the pain and yelling in anger. Thor dropped the crop and moved to hold Loki's face gently in his hands.

"Ah, Loki. You are certainly not in the same condition as you were earlier. Not so elegant nor so prim, and yet somehow so self-possessed. I will have to think on how to properly punish you in future if my efforts here are futile."

Loki could surely taste himself on Thor, and he leaned into the kiss as much as he could in his straitened position. Thor in turn could taste Loki's tears and sweat in the kiss, proof of his strong hand, and of his sorcerer's trust. 

Loki made an unsure noise as Thor walked around his bound body, trailing fingers down his back. Thor could tell that the sorcerer's lower body was throbbing with pain, and Loki tensed and groaned as Thor dragged his short, blunt nails down his ass and thighs.

Loki went quiet, motionless as he tended to do when most wary of Thor. Thor palmed Loki's ass, to a hiss from Loki, who obviously realised it the wiser to not to draw attention to himself right then, and thumbed the opening to Loki's quim. It was as wet and lax as it was ever going to be. He took his cock in hand, stroked it once, firmly, and lined it up once more with Loki's entrance.

Loki whimpered a little at the sensation, the anticipation, as Thor took a moment to appreciate what lay before him. His sorcerer, naked, on his belly and beaten, wrists and ankles wrenched and restrained by rough rope, tears staining his face, not a little fear evident in his posture, bright pain on his thighs and ass just beginning to dull and deepen...and his needy quim open and ready for the taking.

It was difficult to be sure what Loki wanted from this. Thor was sure of what he himself wanted. If only his desires were in question, he would already be pounding angrily into Loki with little regard for the sorcerer's wants or needs, which was exactly as Loki usually liked it. He liked being used by Thor, liked to be helpless and overwhelmed by Thor's size and strength and desire for him. If Thor was to take Loki's cues in this, this is how he would proceed, as if nothing was different tonight. But curse his sorcerer's twisty mind, Thor did not know if he could believe Loki's apparent careless feelings about his sort-of-virginity.

Thor was not prone to overthinking, but to understand Loki it was sometimes necessary. Thor himself put little importance on a partner's maidenhead, only as much as the woman herself did, or the man in question if it came to it. He had not been particularly moved by his own first time, as it had been the natural culmination of much experimentation with willing friends and partners. Loki could feel much the same, and regard this as another tryst with the added frisson of a novel experience.

Or Loki could regard this as a unique moment between himself and Thor, a moment in which Loki was exploring his Jotunn body as much as Thor was.

In which case, Thor realised he should treat this as no different a fuck than any other a fuck he shared with Loki. This was _he and Loki_ , together, their unique intimacy that made every one a mutual joy, a strange pleasure, a shared intensity of need and longing and want and pain and pleasure and just plain fucking.

Thor laughed out aloud, causing Loki to tense and his internal muscles to clamp onto Thor's cock so he ended his laugh with a moan. He decided to take the gift that Loki was offering him, to enjoy Loki's prostrate position, his vulnerability, his surrender of his Jotunn-ness to Thor in the most intimate way. 

Thor realised his jealous anger was beginning to fade. His sorcerer would continue to be out in the Nine Realms and beyond, being his mercurial, ever-changing, ever-seducing self, and Thor could not and would not stop that or choose to control it. As well try to shape skylights. But Loki would always come back to him, he had promised, and it would be simply _Loki,_ his true self, that Thor knew in his heart was shared with Thor and Thor alone. 

He relaxed for the first time since Loki had taunted him, putting a possessive hand on the back of his neck. This is what Loki had offered him, this is what Loki wanted, Loki wanted Thor to take his pleasure. And take it he would. He wanted to watch Loki’s face as he did so, but first he decided to underline the realities of their bond, their union.

He hissed, "I truly don't give a fuck who touches you, sorcerer. It matters not. Because I know who you belong to. And so do you."

Steadying Loki with one hand on his backside, Thor guided himself in. Loki exhaled, sounding exhausted, as if the expectation had drained him. Thor could feel Loki's velvet soft walls give way slowly, no evidence of a barrier to worry about tearing. Loki lowered his head and groaned as Thor seated himself fully, Loki's walls convulsing around him deliciously. He rolled his hips to make sure Loki knew he was there, and that he was large and hard and demanding and he would take what was _his_.

Loki moaned at this, and Thor wondered if Loki was feeling more pain or pleasure now. Pain on his body certainly, discomfort between his legs very likely, pleasure there too, perhaps.

Thor thrust in gently, and he felt Loki sigh softly. Encouraged, he began to slowly pump, and reached around to grasp Loki's half-hard cock. As he thrust in deeper, his hips came flush against Loki's pain-heated backside and Loki groaned with the dual sensation of penetration in his core and pressure on his welts. His head fell forward and Thor heard a guttural noise from him as Thor experimentally circled his hips.

Moving back to get better leverage, he rolled his hips to deepen the reach of his cock. He was almost sure he heard Loki gasp his name, and those velvet soft muscles clamped down on Thor's cock again. He groaned, and prepared to gently withdraw from between Loki's legs, to unknot the ropes around his wrists and ankles, when he realised that Loki had dropped his head now all the way forward, all tension, all resistance melting away as he dissolved slowly into tears. Not tears of pain or frustration, this time. Tears of surrender. Thor almost felt it as Loki’s thoughts and plans and plots slid away as his sorcerer finally, unexpectedly, gave in to him. He heard Loki gasp his name again, a defeated, barely audible sound, but there all the same.

Still seated inside Loki, Thor let him cry softly for a few moments, feeling the sorcerer’s beautiful, strong, lithe body tremble and gasp beneath him. He decided he wanted to watch Loki’s face in defeat too, so he kissed the back of Loki’s neck, slid out gently from between his legs and bent down to watch his sorcerer cry. He knew Loki could see the melting of his own defenses reflected in Thor's eyes.

Thor kissed him. A brief kiss, a promise of tenderness and passion, and pain and strength and love. Thor then took a moment to appreciate what lay before him, Loki naked, on his belly, beaten and whipped, wrists and ankles wrenched and restrained by rough rope, tears staining his face, all resistance drained from his posture, dark stripes on his thighs and ass just beginning to dull and deepen...and his needy quim still open and ready for Thor’s taking again.

And take it he would. Thor swiftly unknotted the ropes around Loki’s wrists and ankles, and Loki did not resist or question him, just accepted. He carried an unprotesting Loki to the bed where he firmly shoved him down, tying his wrists to the bedposts while Loki was distracted by the pain of landing on his welts. 

Loki’s quiet sobs began to tail off. Thor looked down at him, realising that his anger had melted as much as Loki’s drive to provoke had; his jealousy assuaged by Loki’s surrender. As well try to catch hold and control the shimmering skylights as force Loki to to be other than Loki, but Loki only surrendered to Thor, only ever to Thor.

He kissed and wiped the tears from each of Loki’s cheeks. Loki smiled tremulously, a hint of his cheekiness evident too. 

Though Thor knew that it was rare for a woman to reach a climax the first time she allowed herself to be penetrated, it was not impossible, and he felt more than a match for the task with Loki in his arms, face to face with his love, his own weight pinning Loki to the bed and Loki spreading his legs as permission for Thor to take him, the backs of his legs dark with stripes and the beginnings of bruising. Thor grabbed them roughly, revelling in the smooth glide as his cock found itself pressing inwards to wet and heat and pressure that he wanted to chase and fuck and flood with his seed.

"What _are_ you at, Thunderer?" Loki demanded lazily. He seemed completely relaxed too, embracing the sensations that had been whipped into his skin and the pressure and fullness between his legs, settling deep in his core.

"I want to see your face when I make you come," Thor answered him almost breathlessly.

“Sentiment,” murmured Loki, gazing at Thor with clear adoration.

Thor pulled back Loki’s hair with both hands so Loki could not look away. The raw, unshielded, trusting look in Loki’s eyes was thrilling.

“You will not accuse me of such while you have that look on your face, Loki. _I see you_.”

He punctuated the last with a thrust of the hips for each word, to gasps from Loki, and Thor watched in pleasure as Loki’s gaze on him turned from cherishing to helplessly, hopelessly ecstatic. He began to thrust ever deeper as Loki pulled his legs back to allow it.

“Thor,” Loki whispered, not flinching in his gaze, his adoration.

Then louder, “Thor.”

Thor kissed him roughly and increased his pace. Loki gasped again, need in his voice. “ _Thor._ ”

Loki moaned Thor’s name into his mouth and then started near-chanting it as his whole body bowed, toes curling, hands clenching as they pulled at the restraints. 

“Thor. Ahhh! My prince, my king... _Thor_. Thor, my Thor...”

He groaned Thor's name in pain as Thor grasped his sore backside and rutted into him. 

“Ohhh! Thor…”

He moaned and gritted it through his teeth as Thor altered his angle and pace to tease and torment him and send him careening towards his peak.

“Thor...Thor, Thor, my prince oh my king, my love, _Thor._ ”

Thor had not intended to demand anything more from Loki in this, he merely meant to stake his claim. But as he felt Loki climb higher and higher towards his climax, he found himself saying in a low tense voice, strained by the effort of driving pleasure into Loki and through his body, "You share this with none but me, Loki, do you hear me? This is mine, and only mine. Tell me this is so."

Loki was near mindless with sensation, and answered Thor with an agonised-sounding groan. "Yes, yes, it is so, Thor, yours, only yours, I am yours."

Thor had sought once before to exploit this moment and Loki had barely forgiven him, but Thor did not care right there and then. Hearing those words from Loki made the pleasure of watching Loki's face as he crested all the sweeter, the moment where Loki stopped thinking and just was, anchored to the world only by Thor's cock inside him. He would take whatever the consequences Loki wished to inflict tomorrow morning, but for now, there was only Loki and his pleasure, and Thor's own as he flooded Loki's womb with his spend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to im_not_rare_im_rarr for helping to coax this chapter into shape. This whole story would have been much the poorer without her input.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as always to im_not_rare_im_rarr for beta-reading.

The next morning, Thor woke first, unusually. He looked down at his sleeping sorcerer, who was on his belly to spare his bruises and welts, for all the good it had done him when Thor had inevitably rolled on top of him in sleep and wrapped an arm around him. No doubt Loki had been woken and had quietly cursed Thor while enduring Thor's sleeping weight on his pained ass and thighs.

Loki was deeply asleep now. Thor was mystified at the peace that pain brought his sorcerer, but it was his way.

They had some tasks ahead of them that day; removing the runic collar from Loki's neck for one, and soothing the Vanir for another. Thor would probably not join Sif and the Warriors Three for the hunt as planned, but perhaps he could spend the day in peace with the sorcerer. Relative peace.

A servant ghosted in, bringing in tea and water, and gasped as she saw Thor sitting abed with the Jotunn prisoner lying beside him. They stayed staring at each other in shock for a moment before she recovered herself, curtsied and fled the room. Thor sighed. He cringed at the thought of the rumours that were probably already flying around the realm, and that was even before adding in the noises that might have escaped these apartments last night during his and Loki's intimate play.

He examined Loki's welts, regretting that he had little ointment beyond what he had brought in case of a hunting injury. The sorcerer could heal himself soon enough if he wished, but Thor preferred easing Loki's hurts as much as he could himself. He really had been in a rage the previous night. Of course, he would never strike Loki in true anger, and Loki would not tolerate that, but he had come close enough. 

Thor got up and drank some tea. Loki was still in a rare slumber, breathing softly, his temperature lower than Thor had experienced of him before. He supposed this was his Frost Giant sorcerer at rest, no magicks, no shape changing, no scheming, no performing. Thor took some fresh tea and sat beside Loki on the bed and stroked his temple with a thumb.

Loki's eyes opened quickly, but sleep still filled them for a few moments. He stretched and groaned as his welts lit up again, and his fingers went to the collar at his neck. "Dratted thing," he mumbled, not seeming much bothered.

"Tea, Loki?"

Loki rolled over with a grimace and accepted. He smiled at Thor. "Mmm. Well, yesterday was a high point in an otherwise boring week. Did you sleep well, my prince?"

"Always, Loki. Despite all the trouble you cause me, I slept well. Don't argue. You know well how you have disrupted my time here. Cheating and tricking and lying and stealing and making mayhem. Even though it was years ago, you have managed to make this my problem. Causing trouble for my allies in this realm. Allowing another to restrain you. Ruining my rare, precious free time. Manipulating me into freeing you. Manipulating me into punishing you! You are truly the fox in a chicken coop, pure chaos."

Loki smiled slyly, pleased.

"Tell me you would have me any other way, my prince. I swear I will try to believe you."

They grinned at each other. Moving to the bathing room, Thor gently cleaned Loki's bruises and the mess of dried seed and come between his legs. A thought occurred to him, which should have occurred long before now.

"Loki, you...I did not think to...we did not use a preventative last night. I did not even think of the consequences. Will you...is there a chance of pregnancy?"

Loki looked as at sea as Thor felt.

"Neither did I think of such things. Norns. Not exactly a virgin, but more foolish than one. Peace, Thor. I have been in this shape for no more than three days. I am unlikely to have become fertile so quickly."

Thor took a moment to think, slowly sponging the sorcerer's thighs.

"I am not distressed at the idea, Loki, but I am not usually careless in such things is all. We have not even touched on such a question, not really. But I am not opposed, I know that."

Loki looked away. "Enough, Thor. It is not an issue. When I resume my Aes shape, everything not Aes is reabsorbed. I will take care of the matter, if matter it is."

Thor stood, took Loki's hand and kissed it. "Whatever you wish, Loki. I am yours in this, and in all things."

Thor knew that skirted close to marriage vows, and Loki responded as Thor expected, smiling a bland smile, removing his hand from Thor's and stepping out of the bath to towel himself off.

"No doubt your companions will be here soon to break the night's fast. I must borrow a tunic from you."

Thor resisted the urge to tell Loki that what was his was Loki's too, even though it was true in every way that mattered.

Soon after, there was a knock at the door, and Thor bid entry. A servant would not have knocked, of course, and it proved to be the Lady Sif, inviting them to breakfast. Before they left, Thor returned to Loki the small silver replica of Mjolnir that the Vanir had taken from him.

A few minutes later, as they emerged from the bedroom, Loki slightly swamped in one of Thor's spare tunics, Thor realised that they were being scrutinised by all four of his companions and it took a moment to realise that money was exchanging hands, with Sif the apparent loser.

"I knew you would talk Thor into freeing you from the cuffs at least, sorcerer," she said.

"That's not all I talked him into, my lady," said Loki, deadpan.

Sif rolled her eyes. "You let me down, sorcerer," she said, irritated. "I was sure you would have convinced Thor to free you of the collar too by morning."

Loki shrugged. "Oh, Thor was ready to destroy the collar, but I wish to keep it intact for my own purposes. Shame, Sif. I will make it up to you if I can."

He grinned purposefully at the three men, who shifted uncomfortably. Sif laughed.

Thor watched in quiet pleasure as his love breakfasted with their friends, the five of them speaking together easily and with humour and mutual affection. Much as Loki pretended to disparage his companions, Thor knew that this was a rare moment of tranquility and contentment for his sorcerer, and wondered at it. Loki seemed more at ease than Thor had ever seen, despite the collar at his neck, despite being technically a prisoner in this place, despite sitting among those who had once been his bitterest enemies. Thor could only grudgingly admit to himself that Loki's time alone, apart from him, and free from responsibilities in Jotunheim, had done the sorcerer good. For how long more? For how long more would Loki wish to be alone, to deprive both Thor and himself of each other's companionship?

They both knew that they belonged together. Thor accepted he was perhaps too direct a thinker for his twisty, knotty sorcerer, but some simple truths spoke for themselves. _They belonged together_. He could not put that to Loki now, though. Thor had once pushed Loki too hard in this, when Loki had not been ready to acknowledge it, could not allow himself to acknowledge it. _Come home with me, Loki. When this is over, come with me, say you will._

Loki had agreed, at the mercy in the moment of his passion and his love for Thor. _I will, yes, I will, I'll come with you, yes._ In the muted light of the Jotunheim dawn, Thor had bitterly regretted his manipulation as Loki had turned a cold, betrayed anger on him.

Thor wished to speak truth plainly to his sorcerer. _Your home is with me, where we are together. Tell me that I am wrong, if you can._ Thor would have to accept what Loki felt ready to offer him. And he could not deny that the truth that lay before him, in the form of a perfect moment with his love and their friends, was that Loki knew what was better for them both. Loki and he apart were better than Loki and he together, at least for now.

Loki noticed his introspection and smiled at him. "The god of thunder appears to have a rain cloud hovering above him. What ails you, my prince?"

"I am thinking, Loki. It is a use to which I occasionally put my brain. What are your intentions for the collar? I am unwilling to allow you to leave with such a restriction on your ability to defend yourself."

Sif snorted. Loki quirked an eyebrow at her.

"I am hardly helpless even so, Thunderer. Let us finish our meal and I will put to you my proposal for removing this wretched thing. These damn dwarves will not get the best of me. I intend to return the collar to them in perfect working condition, and chain to his or her anvil whichever one of them ensorcelled this to hold me. Let them figure out a way to remove it after I change the runic key."

Sif shook her head. "I have been on the wrong end of your vengeance, sorcerer, I do not envy them."

Loki arched an eyebrow. "As has Thor, have you not, Thunderer? Luckily for you both, I forget my anger quickly." But not hurt, thought Thor. Nor betrayal.

He would just have to prove himself steadfast, and his sorcerer would come back to him. He believed this, believed in Loki. In them both.

Thor was a king, and a god, and he would make it so.

After breakfast, Loki explained his strategy. The collar blocked his own seidr through a mechanic that Thor neither understood nor was interested in, but Loki could tap into the seidr of another.

"I am asking you to allow me to use your seidr, Thor, I...have done this before, of course. Without your permission."

"By force," remarked Thor, drily. "I bear you no grudge, Loki. I hardly have the right."

Loki frowned. This was digging into painful past memories for both of them.

"Nonetheless. I can use Mjolnir as a conduit, with her grace. If she is willing, I can shape your seidr into a tool to change the runes on this collar, and remove it. And return it to its _rightful_ owners, its clever creators."

The pure poisonous glee on Loki's face at this made Thor feel a little sorry for the dwarves who had crossed his sorcerer.

Sif was unhappy. This clearly carried risks and she argued, correctly, that there were likely less convenient but safer ways to free Loki. Sif could be relied on to put the safety of her king and her realm before all else.

The argument degenerated into a verbal free-for-all between Loki and Sif. Thor decided to intervene at the point at which Loki was hissing, "I hate you!" at Sif, who was responding, "I hate you more!" with just as much venom.

"ENOUGH. Norns, you are behaving worse than strange cats, both of you. Loki. I am trusting you not to be utterly foolish in your quest for revenge against those who did you this...injustice. Sif, be patient. If Loki asks for my help to free him, I am obliged to help him no matter the risk."

Loki blanked his expression, and Sif looked unconvinced, but they stopped squabbling.

At Loki's direction, they each placed a hand on Mjolnir, fingers interlaced. Loki squeezed Thor's fingers, gratefully, Thor thought, though no gratitude was owed.

"Thor. Reach out to the storm. Do not embrace it, just stay on its edge. I am asking Mjolnir to allow me to put my hands around your elemental power, and use it for my own ends. I have the tools still, and can do so if she allows me."

Thor did as he was instructed. Mjolnir hummed below their hands. He felt Mjolnir on the brink of channeling his lightning, absorbing the storm and making ready to unleash it in a concentrated blast. It was happening; he could feel it, though as if time had slowed. His power roared through him, and the room rocked around them, but he saw nothing except Mjolnir and Loki before him. Loki was sparking with yellow and white burning seidr; Thor's seidr, not his own sharp green, not this time. Where Loki's eyes were red, now they were burning, blinding white, overflowing with the power of the god of thunder.

Thor sensed more than saw Loki direct the elemental power he now controlled into the collar. The runes on the collar glowed and seemed to move and flow. Thor felt Loki draw deeply through Mjolnir and the runes _writhed._ Loki was rewriting, or perhaps overwriting, in mere moments the spelling of a very powerful magical item which had likely taken days or weeks to forge. He grinned. His sorcerer really did know how to get under the skin of those he deemed worth tormenting.

Thor himself included.

Thor felt his seidr flow back from Loki into Mjolnir, and he calmed somewhat, feeling once again fully in control. He let the storm go slowly, and the room calmed. His companions looked a little rattled, but relieved. Loki was grinning, and opened the collar with a _click._

"Mine, now," he said, a vicious look in his eyes.

"Loki..."

"Worry not, Thunderer. Just desserts, only, I promise you."

"That is not reassuring," muttered Sif. "But I am glad you are both alright."

It was time to bring all their business here to a conclusion. Thor spoke to Loki.

"Loki. I will ask a favour of you now. You will come with me to speak to the Queen here and explain to her that neither you nor the Svartl dwarves will cause her or her kingdom any more difficulty. It is only fair. She and her realm are innocents caught in your crossfire."

Loki sighed. "Very well, Thunderer. I suppose I should look the part also."

Loki retained his Jotunn form but changed his clothing to a fine cut green tunic and black leather breeches. It was close to the Asgardian manner of dress he had adopted when forced to fight with Thor's troops on Jotunheim. Thor wondered if it was deliberate, done to please him. Loki never did anything without purpose, so very probably so. Thor smiled at him, and Loki returned it, strangely shy.

They walked together, all six, to the Queen's receiving rooms. One of the two guards, looking confusedly at Loki, told them that the Queen was already welcoming a guest, but would likely be ending the meeting soon. Before Thor could respond, Loki said imperiously, "What guest outranks the king of Asgard?" Thor hissed, "Loki!" but it was too late, Loki had flung open the double doors to the Vanir court, ignoring the guards' protests.

The court was indeed at the Queen's pleasure, all assembled to welcome a guest...who appeared to be a Jotunn. A Frost Giant, tall even by the standards of his people, stood before the Queen, obviously in the middle of a conversation. Thor realised that Loki had stiffened. Did Loki know the Queen's guest?

Thor's question was answered as both the Queen and the Frost Giant turned to see what had interrupted their meeting. The Jotunn stopped stock still for a moment, and then gave a shallow bow to Loki, muttering, "Majesty," in a hoarse voice.

"Thrym," replied Loki, easily, his initial shock melting away as if it had never been. "How...unexpected. Come to forge ties with the other realms, have you? And if I asked King Laufey, I would learn that your cultivating of Vanir friends is part of your official duties, would I?"

At this, Sif and the Warriors Three snapped into battle formation and surrounded Thrym, drawing their weapons, all four aimed at the soft meat of his neck.

Volstagg said, "This man threatens your throne, Loki? Say the word, and he will threaten no more."

Loki said nothing for a moment. Then, "Peace, Volstagg. I am grateful for your loyalty, friends, but I would not have Asgard have any influence on the fate of the Jotunn throne. Stand down, I beg you."

The four stood back and lowered their weapons, Sif last and most reluctantly.

Loki addressed Thrym again. "I do not know your goal here, my lord, nor do I care, frankly. I am long past fighting my father's battles for him. I will not tell him what I saw here today, unless he asks me. But know this. If you do succeed in taking the throne, be sure it is because you know yourself to be a better king than Laufey is, because I have promised myself to return to Jotunheim if she is being misgoverned again. Do you understand me? I do not wish for the throne for myself, but I swear I will destroy any who do without being fit to take her."

Thrym stood before Loki as if he were in fact the smaller of the two. He bowed his head, this time in true regard. "In that case," he said, "I beg leave to go, Loki-king."

Loki nodded. Lord Thrym acknowledged Thor and his companions with a quick nod of his own, backed away with a respectful four steps, turned and near-fled down the hallway.

The Vanir Queen had seemed struck dumb in all this. She regarded Loki with shock, barely noticing Thor.

Loki smiled at her, not unkindly. He handed the gag she had placed on him and the remains of the cuffs to her personal guard, who was no less astonished than she.

"Your majesty," Loki said. "I intend to go directly to the dwarves who have caused both of us such annoyance these past days. I assure you, you will not be bothered by them again, at least not on my account."

Her expression did not change, nor did she utter anything. She looked from Loki to Thor and back.

"And I return your property," Loki continued. "The cuffs I do not resent, as one must restrain one's prisoners while they are awaiting trial if deemed dangerous, and I do delight in how dangerous you think me. But the gag? Your majesty, even the worst villain, of which I assure you I most certainly am or at least aspire to be, deserves to speak up for themselves. The cuffs I can forgive you, but the gag will always burn in my memory of the last three days. I was not even allowed to explain to you that what you took for stolen was in fact _mine_." He held up his wrist showing Thor's silverworked gift once again strapped beside the veins and arteries which carried his heartsblood.

"So, allow me to return that experience in kind. For the next two days, all in your court and household will find themselves speaking fluent and accurate nonsense without cease. None among you will be able to stop talking until tomorrow at midnight. Be grateful that I do not force you to babble your deepest secrets and darkest desires at this time. I considered it but felt the King of Asgard might feel forced to punish me for going as far."

The Queen looked horrified, and opened her mouth to argue. Instead of demand or a plea or a question, though, came a stream of half words and childish burbles. Her guard dropped the cuffs and gag and made to demand something of Loki at the point of his spear, but the same happened to him. The sound of chattering and prattling rang out in the room as the members of the Queen's court attempted to protest this treatment of their queen. Thor groaned.

"No, Loki! The Queen is an ally and a friend, and I will not have you abuse her vassals like this!"

Loki smiled beatifically. "If her majesty were not highly regarded by you, Thunderer, what do you think her punishment might be?" He turned to the Queen. "Be grateful for the patronage of the King of Asgard and god of thunder, Queen Nerthus. For as long as he keeps my favour, so do you."

Thor spluttered. Loki winked at him, nodded at the queen, and faded from sight.

Thor could think of naught to say. "I...am sorry, your majesty."

She continued to babble at him. Sif grabbed Thor's elbow and dragged him away, though he managed a quick bow. Oh Loki. You infuriating....

"No harm done, Thor. The queen is not in a position to take offence," said Sif, smiling. "Loki, I assume you are keeping pace with us. We are going to the stables and riding out for a hunt for the next few days. You are welcome to join us, but I doubt you will ever be welcome in this castle again." Thor heard a familiar laugh but could not pinpoint the source, despite glaring all around.

Loki made himself visible once they reached the safety of the stables. He had decided to skip the hunt, so eager was he to return the runic collar to its creators.

Thor's companions were fussing over their horses as he allowed a stable boy to prepare Gullflaxi. He was not used to feeling lonely. He watched as the Warriors Three and Sif bade the sorcerer farewell, and he knew he would have to do the same soon, too soon. Thor had always felt sufficient in himself. Whether together with loved ones, alone in a crowd, or truly by himself, the concept of loneliness had been largely foreign to him. Until Loki had come. Well, until Loki had come, and then gone away.

The first time they had parted, Loki had returned Mjolnir to him, made him whole again, or so Thor had thought at the time. He had not counted on the impact of the absence of his sorcerer, he’d had no concept that he could feel the absence of another so viscerally. 

The second time they had parted, Thor had given Loki that token of Mjolnir, beautiful silverwork wrapped in a leather strap which Loki had wrapped around his wrist to keep the precious metal snug against his pulse. It had been in part an attempt by Thor to make real the piece of himself that he knew Loki was going to take away with him when he left. 

He had foolishly thought that he would feel better if he gave to Loki something of himself that was tangible. He had not.

And here he was again, having enjoyed the gift of unexpected Loki for a night and a morning, and had taken a part of Loki that none had or would ever, but still having to face another farewell.

He would hold onto hope. Someday soon, the sorcerer would give into his own need for Thor, and would come to Asgard to be with him. He might leave again, but he would come back again too. Perhaps that might be the way of it for some time. And someday soon after that, Loki would decide to stay. They would be together. Thor would fulfill his duties as king with his love, and perhaps their children, by his side. 

He took a deep breath and smiled what he was surprised to realise was a genuinely happy smile, if a small one, as Loki approached him. His sorcerer made him happy, even when causing him pain. Their relationship was truly strange, Thor could admit to himself. Pain brought each of them pleasure. He was reluctant to accept pain, but he could do it for Loki’s sake. There was pleasure in the pain. 

“I will leave you to your days of leisure, now, Thunderer. Enjoy your hunt, won’t you?” Loki sat beside him, and Thor felt their bodies touch, shoulder and arm, hip to knee, side by side. 

Thor nodded. He would. He was not ungrateful, and mindful of his very good fortune. He would have good company with him on the hunt, that of his oldest and dearest friends, and no responsibilities for some days yet. He had had a joyful, maddening, beautiful time with his sorcerer, even if it was all too short. It would be a good day, the day to come, even without Loki.

“I do not wish to annoy you, Loki, but I will ask you once again to come back to Asgard with me. Not because I expect you to say yes, but because you are here with me now, and therefore I can.”

Loki smiled. He truly was beautiful, Jotunn or Aesir. Handsome with noble features, lithe but masculine, strong yet slender, his quicksilver mind evident in his clever eyes, his sardonic mouth, the way he quirked his head and sat with stilled energy, like a deer. No, a wolf. A hunting wolf, briefly at rest. He truly was more Loki now than Thor had ever seen him.

“No, Thor. Not yet. I have not yet settled in myself. But…”

Thor looked at him, hope sparking in him. Loki laughed, a little sadly. “You ask me the impossible, or at least the unwise, at this time, so I shall ask you the same. Thor…”

Loki sighed. Thor waited a moment, growing anxious, another feeling he had been unfamiliar with until recently, and impatient, a feeling that was an old friend to him. 

“Thor. For a little while longer at least, I need to travel, to move, to see familiar places and new, to visit old friends and perhaps find new ones.” 

Thor stiffened at the thought of Loki finding new...friends. He would not be jealous. He had no need. He knew this. Envious perhaps. Envious of those who Loki would spend time with, when Loki would not be with Thor because Thor did not belong to himself completely and so could not give himself to Loki. Asgard would always have the first claim on him. They both knew and accepted that. 

“I will not settle, Thor, not in Asgard, nor Jotunheim nor anywhere else for now. The skies call to me, in the Nine Realms certainly, but for the first time, beyond the Nine Realms too.” 

Thor’s heart sank. If Loki left the Nine Realms, who knows when he would return?

“But, Thor. I find myself lonely, for the first time. Or at least, I am lonely, and for the first time, I know how to change that. It is impossible of course, but I will ask anyway, as you ask the impossible of me.”

Thor looked at Loki in wonder. What could Loki want of him? He wanted to agree without even knowing the details. He could not; he was not his own to pledge to Loki, so he remained quiet, and waited. 

“Will you come with me, Thor? I understand that the King of Asgard cannot abandon his throne, but I will ask you anyway. Travel with me, let me show you my Nine Realms, the hidden and secret places and paths that their protector, you, might never ordinarily see. You would enjoy meeting the secret powerbrokers and spies and puppetmasters whose strings make all of us dance to their tune sometimes, even the King of Asgard. I cannot say they would feel the same of meeting you, but that would be half of the fun. Think on it, Thunderer. I would have you by my side as I walk these skies and more.”

“...Loki…”

Thor did not know how to respond. Loki was asking the impossible. He could not expect Thor to abandon his kingdom and the Nine Realms, not now. Not when the fragile goodwill born from Jotunheim’s return to the fold needed nurturing, not when the threat of Ragnarok could descend upon them at the whim of Surtr. 

But Odin remained as Allfather of the Nine Realms, even as Thor governed in his place as king. Both Odin and Laufey had perhaps learned the folly of their battle-lust in the aftermath of their sons’ bitter war. Frigga remained a potent force for peace, and her influence over Odin was stronger than ever as the old man reflected on his follies. Loki had cultivated a parliament of nobles in his realm to oversee its progress and prosperity, and with luck would provide a check on Laufey’s ambitions in the same way Frigga could for Odin. 

Perhaps it was possible. 

It was possible. Not right now, not in the immediate future, but soon. Thor would have to put in checks and balances, oversights and structures to ensure that governance would progress as he wished. He would work towards creating a system to allow Asgard the freedom to rule herself. 

He turned to Loki and said, “Yes. I will travel with you. Not now, but soon.”

Loki looked at him, considering. He smiled. There was no more for either of them to say, not then. Loki kissed him on both cheeks and on the mouth, and gazed at Thor with adoration plain on his face for a moment. He stood to leave. Thor reluctantly let go of his hands and watched as Loki stepped backwards once, twice, thrice, and looked...beyond. 

For a long moment before Loki faded from sight, Thor could have sworn that he saw laying between them Yggdrasil, its branches spread out, their reach far beyond his imagining. He caught a glimpse of what lay beyond, the cosmos which surrounded the Tree, dark and mysterious and peppered with the lights of countless other systems. He could see the pulse of life beat slowly up through Yggdrasil’s trunk, through its branches, wherein nestled in leaves and buds was each sky of the Nine Realms. 

It was beautiful, and awesome, and as the image faded, taking with it his love, Thor stood and looked at the sky of Vanaheim. He whispered a prayer to his sorcerer, a prayer of thanks for his steadfast love and devotion and trust, and for the possibility of a future together here in the Nine Realms and abroad.


End file.
